Rival Love
by filmyfurry
Summary: Percy Jackson is moving to San Francisco to live with his dad's family. Things are already complicated when he got there but when he falls for his step-brother's girlfriend, Annabeth Chase. Things get even crazier. AU
1. Chapter One

**Rival Love**

**AU  
**

**Rated T for some langauge.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  
**

* * *

**1. Reminiscing Thirty-thousand Feet In The Air.**

Percy's POV

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard. We will be landing at San Francisco International Airport in about six hours. Please stay seated until the seatbelt sign is off. We hope you enjoy the flight. Thank you."

SIX HOURS!

I have to sit in this plane for six hours!

Ok, Percy. Calm down. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

"Excuse me sir? Are you okay?" A worried voice said

I looked up to see a flight attendant looking at me with a concern expression.

"I'm… fine… thank you… just my first time on a plane" I stuttered out.

"Oh, don't worry. Everyone's nervous of their first flight. Well, if you need anything just ask."

I nodded and gripped my seat so hard that my knuckles turned white.

This was my first time on an airplane. Ever.

And I was terrified. I always feel like this when I am in high places. What do you call it?

Acornphobia. No. Acrophobia. That's it.

Then why am I, a sixteen year-old guy with acrophobia sitting on a plane about thirty-thousand feet above the ground on my way to San Francisco?

The answer is simple. I am going to live with my dad, Poseidon Atlantis and his family for a year. Hooray!

Okay, I know what you guys are thinking. _Are his parents divorced? Or does his dad hates him so much that he left him with his mother? _ The answers are no and no.

You see, my mom and dad are not technically married. My mom was a normal ordinary woman whom parents died in an airplane accident when she was young, so she went to live with her uncle. Unfortunately, her uncle passed away too leaving her alone. So she had to work day and night just to pay for her apartment. She met my dad, Poseidon, at Montauk which they fell in love immediately and decide to have a one night stand. My mom already knows that Poseidon already has a family. Yes, a family but she still had something with him anyway. I don't get why should someone as good as my mom would go and fall in love with some random guy.

When my mom got pregnant, she didn't tell my dad and guess why?

Poseidon Atlantis was the owner of the Atlantis Cruise which was basically the biggest cruising line in America! And also because that Poseidon already has a family so she didn't want to ruin it. See how nice my mom is.

Well after sixteen years, Poseidon had just decide that he could not just forget about me so he decided that he would make up for the past sixteen years and invite me to go live with him in San Francisco , where his kingdom is. Yes, a kingdom if you actually seen the place you'll be surprised as I am when I saw it, in pictures of said that this is at least he could do for my mom whom has been raising _his_ son alone for sixteen years. Of course, my mom had to agree to it. Why, you ask? Well, deep, deep down in her heart she stills loves Poseidon even though she doesn't want to admit it. But I know she still does. Poseidon promised that I would be treated well and attended a great school there in San Francisco.

Of course, when my mom told me about this I wasn't very _thrilled. _

"_I'm WHAT !" I yelled shocked._

"_You're moving to San Francisco to live with your father and his family, dear" Mom repeated calmly_

"_You're not serious, are you?" _

"_Your father just called me and offered you to go stay with him for a year."_

"_And you just had to say yes. Didn't you?" I said while running a hand through my untidy black hair._

"_No, I told him that I'll ask you and will call him back if we get an answer… Think about it, Percy. This is Poseidon Atlantis, your father, inviting you to live with him. I know that you've wanted to know your father better Percy. I've known since I told you about him. Now this is your chance." Mom said looking at me in the eyes. I could clearly see her emotions: sadness, loneliness and a little bit of an emotion that I didn't quite know. _

_She spoke again, lowering her gaze from me._

"_Ever since I knew that I was pregnant with you. I was the happiest person on Earth. I never expected to be a mother this fast, but things happen when you're least expected" _

_She gave a small laugh and continues._

"_I told you that I didn't tell Poseidon about you right?" She didn't wait for my answer. "Well, I lied. After I found out, Poseidon was already with his family. I called him and told him that I was pregnant. He was shocked at first but then he calmed down. He actually asked me to go live with him at his home in San Francisco. He promised that he would build another house just for me. I said no. It wasn't that I didn't love him. It was that I couldn't move in and break up his family. I promised him that if I needed help than I would tell him immediately." She then raised her eyes to look at me again." She took a deep breath._

"_We didn't keep in touch that much… when he called me yesterday I was really surprised, and he asked me if you would want to go and live there with him for a year. This time I couldn't say no anymore so… I decide to ask you. So please Percy." She silently begs me to answer her._

_I stood there shocked. _

_My mom lied to me. _

_My thoughts were all jumbled up in my mind._

_My dad, Poseidon who I really want to meet or my mom who had raised me on her own for sixteen years._

_I would have never thought that this day would come that I would have to choose between my own mom and dad…_

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the horrible shaking of the plane.

"Oh my god" I muttered under my breath.

I squeeze my eyes tightly and grip the seat even harder than before.

"Please stop shaking. Please stop shaking…"

After a few minutes of shaking, the plane became calm again.

I released a breath that I have been holding for so long.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are currently passing through a storm and might encounter some turbulence. We are sorry for the inconvenient."

Damn.

At that moment, I found myself wondering why I even agreed to come in the first place. I could have just said no and stayed with my mom. The thing is I wanted my mom to be happy. By coming to stay with my dad would probably be the best option to make her feel that way. At first, I was worried about her because I would be leaving her alone but she just smiled and said "Don't worry, Paul will take care of me." Paul Blofis was my mom's boyfriend. He is an English teacher at Goode High school which happens to be my old school. Paul's a good guy, a better boyfriend than some of my mom's old ones. So I trusted him to take good care of her.

Soon my thoughts wondered to the person who started all this: Poseidon Atlantis.

A part of me really wanted to know him, to have a normal father and son relationship with him, to make him proud of me but another part of me hates him so much for abandoning my mom and me even though she told him she didn't need his help. At least, he should visit them sometimes and not just left us to wonder about him.

All of a sudden the plane plunged down, making me feel a little bit nausea.

I groaned.

I asked a flight attendance how long before landing.

"About five hours sir."

I thanked him and tried to relax. However I failed and started to panic again whenever the plane shook.

This is going to be the longest five hours in my entire life…

* * *

**Hey, guys. I'm so excited that I am finally posting this story! So please review and point out any grammerical or any mistakes at all. Constructive criticisms are welcome. Thanks again for reading.**

**-Filmyfurry  
**


	2. Chapter Two

**AN: Hey guys, here is chapter 2! Thank you so much for all of you who review! It means so much to me :) **

**Also, thank you to my friends (you know who you are) for supporting me and helping me with this chapter**

**P.S. Keep in mind that this is AU, everyone is normal (as they can be) **

**Thanks again!**

**Rated T for language**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**

* * *

2. I Accidentally 'Wetted' My Half-brother.**

After the plane landed safely at the San Francisco International Airport, I felt more confident to face my father and his family. I quickly followed the other passengers to the security checkout and finally to the baggage claim. Waiting impatiently at the baggage claim for my blue duffel bag to arrive, I glanced around as if someone was watching me.

I finally saw my familiar blue duffel bag slowly coming towards me. Making a snap decision, I ran towards it.

"Hey, kid. Watch it!" A guy yelled when I ran into him.

After pushing a few people out of the way, I finally reached my bag. I took it and rapidly head towards the doors that lead out to the waiting area.

Breathlessly, I looked around the arrive area searching for Poseidon. Although I have never seen him before, I would be able to find him by the description that my mom told me: "He's a middle aged man with neatly trimmed salt and pepper beard, dark hairs, sea-green eyes like yours. He's quite tan since he spends a lot for time out in the sea. You would recognise him at first sight."

I scanned around looking for him. Finally, my eyes landed on a man holding a sign which said: Perseus Jackson.

I flinched a little.

Nobody knew my full name except for my mom. I guess she told Poseidon about it. I can see that the man was also looking at the people coming out from the doors. So I raised my hand and waved at him. He didn't seem to notice me yet. I realise how stupid I must look waving in the middle of the crowd, putting my hand down I made my way to him. Moving closer to him, I saw that he was wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt with khaki shorts. He was fairly tall and built, his tan face looked quite young with blue-grey eyes and shiny black hair, his lip was it a tight line as if he never smile. He noticed me and straightened up a bit and lowered the sign.

"Perseus Jackson?" He asked focusing his eyes on me.

"Yeah..." I replied wary.

He eyed me a little bit longer making sure that I wasn't faking it then said "Welcome to San Francisco, My Lord." He bowed. "My name is Delphin, Messenger of Lord Poseidon Atlantis; I am here to take you back to the Kingdom, sir." He spoke in a bored-like tone.

"Um..." Was all I could say.

"Allow me to take your bag, sir." Delphin reached his hands out.

"It's okay." I said quickly. "Thanks, but I could manage my own bag."

Delphin dropped his arms and nodded.

"Come, my Lord. We should get going now, Lord Poseidon expects you for dinner tonight."

"You can call me Percy you know, it's not like I'm the boss of you or anything." I joked as we started to walk to the exit.

However, Delphin took it seriously and replied "Everybody with the blood of Lord Poseidon running in their veins is the 'boss' of me, my Lord, I served his kin as if they were him, anything you ask of me I'll do it the best of my ability, sir."

I was about to say that I was only joking when he said "Here's our transport, sir." Gesturing to the car in front of us. It was a sliver Aston Martin V12 Vanquish. How do I know this? Well, Paul has been talking about this car non-stop. I'm sure that he would die from shock if he saw me riding one. It was also one of the most expensive cars I have ever seen in my life.

I mentally smack myself. Of course, Poseidon would own a car like this; he is the owner of Atlantis Cruise for gods sake! He probably owns thousands of cars like this.

I was shook out of my thoughts when Delphin opened the door for me. "My Lord."

I climbed in; he closed the door and got in the driver's seat.

"Are you comfortable, My Lord?" he asked me while starting the engines.

"Yes and will you stop calling me My Lord or sir and just call me Percy!" I said annoyed.

"As you wish...My Lord."

I rolled my eyes as we drove out of the airport heading to my new home.

Finally after about an hour's drive that had been awkwardly silent. The car halted in front of a giant gate with a trident on it.

Delphin picked up some sort of remote and pressed it. The gates slowly opened revealing what looked very much like a new whole kingdom.

On both side of the road was green lawn that stretched out like a field. We pass a big water fountain with a statue of a man that looked like a mermaid or merman in this case holding a trident in his hand. Then the main mansion came into view. I had to stare at it with my mouth opened. The mansion itself looked huge and the whiteness of it made me squint my eyes.

Delphin parked the car, got out and came over to my side to open the door for me.

"I will escort you to your room My Lord. Follow me."

I adjusted my duffel bag and hastily followed Delphin into the mansion. As if the outside of the mansion wasn't fancy enough, when I saw the inside it was even fancier.

There were many expensive-looking statues of mermaids and sea creatures. I stopped to look at a weird looking statue; its front part is a horse while its back part is fish like. I reached my hand to touch the statue when Delphin's voice broke out "I wouldn't advise you to touch that, My Lord."

I jumped back, surprised by his voice.

"Sorry, My Lord, but that statue is made of marble which is very rare and expensive." I backed up from the statue like it was going to bite me. Delphin seemed to be a bit amused but kept his face straight "On the first floor is the main living room, the kitchen, the main dining hall, the main aquarium and the bar. Unfortunately, Lord Poseidon has banned anybody who is under eighteen to use the bar." He explained as we went up the stairs. The second floor was also the same as the first floor but without the statues. "On this floor is the guests rooms and a study hall and on the third floor is Lord Poseidon's and Lady Amphitrite's rooms which are restricted."

Delphin pointed down the right hall, "Down this hall is Master Triton's bedroom. However, he forbids anyone to go down there without permission."

"Who's this 'Master Triton' guy? Is he very important to get a side of a mansion?" I asked.

Delphin's eyes suddenly turned dark," Lord Triton is Lord Poseidon and Lady Amphitrite's eldest son. He is also the heir to the Kingdom of Atlantis and the Atlantis Cruising Line. He is also your half-brother." He continued to walk down the left side of the hallway. All the rooms on this side were all the same. Delphin pointed at the second room. "This is your room, My Lord; I have to attend to Lord Poseidon. I'll come and call you if dinner is ready. If you need anything just ask." He bowed and walked away.

I went into my room, it was a typical bedroom. It has a small bed, a desk, a small shelf, a closet and a bathroom. It looked like no one has stayed in it for a long time because the bed and desk were very dusty. I threw my bag on the bed and coughed as the dust flew. I silently thanked my mom for making me clean my room everyday...

CLANG!

I jumped up.

The noise came from outside my room. I was not bother by it and returned to my unpacking.

CLANG!

I sighed, opened the door and poked my head out.

CLANG!

The noise seemed to be coming from Triton's side of the floor. I was about to ignore it and get back- ARG!

A cry of pain came. I made a decision to go down there to see what was going on.

At the end of the hallway was a double door which was decorated with seashells, it was half opened.

I gave it a little push and went inside; the room was much fancier than mine with a double bed, a huge sofa, a plasma screen TV and a Mac computer. I looked around in astonishment, until I heard someone murmuring from the bathroom. I went in and saw a big guy with brown hair sitting by the pipes near the toilet. He was clutching his hand which seemed to be bleeding.

"Ow!" he murmured.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked.

The guy jumped up, surprised by my voice. He looked about the same age as me but way taller and bigger.

"I'm fi-fine. Thanks." he stuttered.

"Here, let me see your hand." I hold out my hand to him.

He looked at my hand strangely but get me look at it anyway.

"It's a deep cut. I think you should get this bandaged up." I told him.

He suddenly looked scared and pulled his hand away.

"No, I ca-can't. I have to finish fixing the pipes." He turned back but I stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder.

"You're hurt. You can't do it. Here let me help." I offered, passing him and knelt down to look and at pipes.

"Oh, I'm Percy by the way." I introduced myself.

"Tyson." He seemed to be worried.

"Don't worry, Tyson. I could fix the pipes before you can even say 'peanut butter and jelly sandwich'."

That made him laugh out loud.

"You're so funny."

I grinned as I randomly screwed some knots on the pipes.

"So, Tyson. Why are you even fixing the pipes? Doesn't Delphin do it for you?"

"Triton asked me to do it, so I do it." Tyson stated flatly.

"Okay... Triton sounds like a smelly guy."

Tyson chuckled, "Yeah, he is. He always smells like rotten fish..."

Both Tyson and I laughed at this.

"Right, I think it's fixed. Let's see. Tyson turned on the taps."

Tyson turned the tap and-

SPLASH!

Water burst out from the pipes.

"WHAT THE—" came a voice from the doorway.

"Turn it off! Turn it off, Tyson" I yelled while trying to block the water with my hands, which by the way did not help.

The water died down and the whole bathroom was flooded.

" TYSON! What is going on here!"

Tyson and I both turned to see two people standing at the door.

One was a tall, well-built guy with green eyes and black messy hair with strips of blue highlights making him look like one of those weirdo surfers.

The other person was a girl with curly blond hair and startling grey eyes that seemed to be both intelligent and intimidating at the same time. Her tanned and athletic body would pass her as a Californian girl easily. But I have this feeling that she was more than she looked. Both of them were dripping wet.

The guy stepped forward, "Tyson! How many times do I have to tell you not to mess up!" He yelled furiously.

He stared at Tyson, who was gripping his wounded hand tightly, with his blazing green eyes, and then he shifted his gaze and fixed his eyes on me. I held his gaze for a little while until Tyson spoke up quietly, "I'm sorry... Triton... I tried to fix it but—"

Triton cut in, "No buts! I gave you another chance to help out and you MESSED up!"

Tyson stood helplessly staring at the floor.

I stepped in front if him, "Hey, Give him a break. He cut his hand so I offered to help so it's my fault! Stop yelling at him, he didn't do anything wrong!."

My little speech got the attention from both Triton and the blond-haired girl whose eyes were fixed on me the whole time.

"Who the hell are— oh." Triton cut off, he appeared to have recognise me.

"You're that Jackson kid, aren't you? Father's 'mistake' of a son." He emphasised the word 'mistake'.

"You shouldn't even be here. Father had only invited you here because he feels sorry for you and your mother. Oh, how is she anyway? Tricked any guys lately?"

"Don't you dare bring my mom into this!" I was boiling with anger. My fists were clenched so hard that it turned white. "She hasn't done anything wrong!"

Triton seemed to be amused by my come back, he stepped closer towards me.  
"Oh yeah? What are you going to do?"

"Triton, I think we should leave this to your father. He'll deal with it." The blond-haired girl spoke up. She was drying her hair with a towel; she must have gone out during the fight.

"Stay out of this, Annabeth; he thinks that Father must care about him. Listen, Jackson. Don't think that because you're his son, you can just come in and order people around. This Kingdom has rules so don't just waltz in and do whatever you like!"

We were head to head now, staring at each other with such intensity. I was about to retort back when Delphin's calm voice interrupted: " Lord Poseidon and Lady Amphitrite will now expect all of you for dinner," All for us turned to see Delphin standing at the door, taking in the scene before him: Me and Triton glaring at each other with fists clenched, Annabeth and Tyson watching us.

"I see that you have met, My Lords"

"Yes, we have." I uttered.

He must have notice the tension between me and Triton so he nodded, "Master Tyson, Master Jackson, why don't you go change and we'll meet at the dining hall?" he gestured.

I nodded and walked passed Triton who was scowling, out of the bathroom and to the hallway. Then someone's' hand was on my shoulder, I turned to see Delphin looking at me for an explanation.

"It was my fault." I blurted out. "Tyson cut his hand so I offered to help, and then they came in, when I told Tyson to turn on the taps. Then Triton yelled at him for messing up, so I jumped to defend him..." I trailed off, I was not sure if I should tell Delphin that Triton started the fight first or not. If what Triton said was true, Poseidon would surely be mad at me.

Delphin seemed to sense that there was more to the story than what I was telling but he didn't want to push me, "Very well, sir, the dining hall is this way. When you finish changing meet us there." He walked away.

In the tension of the fight, I had forgotten by Tyson. I quickly fall behind to check on him. He was quiet since Triton yelled at him.

"Hey, you OK?" I asked

He nodded timidly.

I tried a different approach.

"You're right. Triton does smell like a rotten fish, a really smelly rotten fish. I bet that he has fish for a brain."

Tyson laughed and I joined in.

"Thank you for sticking up for me...nobody has ever done that before not even my own brother..." Tyson said sadly.

"Your brother? Who?"

"Triton is my brother..."

Of course, how stupid of me. I should have known by the way Delphin calls him 'master', but Tyson was so different from Triton. If he didn't tell me, then I wouldn't have known.

"Is it true?" Tyson suddenly asked.

"What's true?"

"That you are father's son."

I pause then answer hesitantly, "Yeah..."

Suddenly Tyson was giving me a big bone-crushing hug.

"Yay! I have another brother!"

"Um...Tyson...can't breathe..."

Tyson released me with a huge smile on his face.

"Triton's going to be a trouble isn't he?" I asked while we walked down the hallway.

"He's always like this. When father's not around he would start to pick on me or the servants...

Everyone's too scared of him to do anything. No one has ever fought him before you came. You're the first person who stood up to him." Tyson explained

"I feel so honored." I remark sarcastically. I thought back minutes ago...

"So who's the girl that's with him?" I asked, remembering how her grey eyes stared at me, it seemed to look straight into my soul. I can't seem to get rid of the feeling that came with it.

Tyson looked back at me with a knowing look on his face, "That brother was Triton's girlfriend Annabeth Chase."

* * *

**So review! Constructive criticisms are welcome. Thanks again for reading.**

**-Filmyfurry**


	3. Chapter Three

**AN: Hey, thanks for your reviews last chapter!**

**Some of you may still be confused but this story is AU which means that everyone is human and normal**

**I would like to dedicate this chapter to wolfienur who gave me an idea for this chapter and JCullen the cat who kept making me finish this chapter :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**

* * *

3. A Tour Gone Bad**

Tyson and I were currently sitting in the dining hall waiting for the others to arrive.

Apparently, we were the first ones there. Tyson was excitingly telling me about his horse 'Rainbow'.

"You have to see him, brother. He is the biggest and strongest horse I have ever seen! Have you ever ridden a horse?" Tyson asked me eagerly.  
"Yeah, when I was little, my mom used to take me horse riding when she has enough money to take me." I told him.

"But when I got older, I haven't had a chance to go horse riding because of school and stuff."

"Don't worry; father owns a stable near here. We can go horse riding whenever we want to!" Tyson said, clapping his big hands together.

I was about to reply, when the doors opened. Triton walked in, followed by Annabeth. Triton and I locked eyes for a moment. It seemed that he won't forget the 'bathroom incident' easily. I watched as he and Annabeth sat down near the head of the table.

Now that Triton and Annabeth were here, I guessed that Poseidon and his wife would be here any moment now.

At that instant, the doors opened again. A woman walked in. She had long black hair and mesmerising blue eyes. She was very beautiful. This must be Poseidon's wife, Amphitrite. I felt someone tapping me on the shoulder. I turned around. Tyson was standing up, "Stand up." He whispered. I hastily stood up, noticing that I was the last one to do so.

It's a good thing that Amphitrite was talking with Delphin or I might be in trouble again. "Good evening, mother." Triton greeted her in a charming voice. If he hadn't yelled at Tyson and me, I would have thought that he was prince charming.

"Hello, Triton." She replied back, smiling at him. However, when she saw Annabeth her smile dropped and nodded as Annabeth greeted her.

"Where is father?" Triton asked.

"Your father has been called to an emergency meeting with his brothers, so he apologized for not able to attend dinner." Amphitrite sat down and waved to Delphin. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's eat."

Throughout dinner, Amphitrite seemed to completely ignore me, I was secretly glad for this because it would be very uncomfortable if she starts talking to me. Triton and Annabeth excused themselves and left the dining hall, leaving only me and Tyson awkwardly sitting there. We got up preparing to leave when Amphitrite spoke up, "Perseus, I need to talk to you." I cringed. This was the thing that I was trying to avoid. She nodded at Tyson to leave us alone. "I'll wait for you outside brother." He said touching my shoulder briefly and went out.

Amphitrite looked at me disapprovingly, "I am going to say this truthfully, I do not like you, Perseus. I do not want you to be here but since Poseidon insisted it, I agreed to have you staying here so you better be on your best behavior because I would be watching you very closely." I opened my mouth to say something but she held her hand up, silencing me. "Do not make the Atlantis family look bad. Understand?" I nodded. Her blazing eyes made me forget what I wanted to say.

"Good, you're dismissed." Waving her hand at me.

After I got out of the dining hall, I let out a breath that I was holding. Tyson was waiting for me with a worrying look.

"It was nothing." I told Tyson

"It went better than I expected. I imagined that she would be nuts when she knew Poseidon cheated on her and if that's not enough inviting me here as well." I ran my hand through my hair.

"Master Jackson!" A voice called out.

"What now?" I mumbled turning to see Delphin running toward us.

"Tomorrow is your first day of school, so I just wanted to make sure that you know what time the bus arrives." He raised his eyebrow, waiting for me to answer.

"Um… 7.20-ish?"

Delphin sighed, "Its 7.40, My Lord. It's late now so it's best for you to go to bed, My Lords." He bowed. "Good night."

"Would he ever stop calling me 'my lord'?" I asked Tyson as we went up the stairs.

Tyson laughed, "I don't think he would."

We arrived in front of our rooms, "Well, good night Tyson, see you tomorrow."

"Good night, Percy. Sleep tight."

I changed into my pajamas and lay on the bed, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling. Slowly, I drifted to sleep, thinking about what tomorrow would bring.

I groggily woke up to the sound of someone banging on the door.

"My Lord!" someone yelled.

"Wake up, My Lord!"

"Go away." I mumbled, covering my ears.

"My Lord, it's 7.35. You'll be late for the bus."

And with that I jolted out of my bed.

"WHAT!" I frantically threw my clothes on, brush my teeth and tried unsuccessfully taming my hair.

Grabbing my backpack, I rushed out of the door, knocking Delphin to the side.

"Sorry, Delphin!" I yelled back.

I rushed downstairs to find Tyson waiting for me by the front door.

"Percy! Come on, we're going to be late."

We hurried to the gate where a yellow school bus was waiting for us.

"Sorry, we're late." I apologetically told the bus driver.

He just nodded in response.

Tyson and I sat at the back of the bus. Before the bus drove off, I saw Triton pulling out of the gate in his car. As he drove pass the bus, he gave me his I'll-get-you-at-school smirk. This was not a great way to start my first day of school…

About fifteen minutes later, the bus in front of my new school.

"We're here!" Tyson exclaimed happily. "Seaside High"

Seaside High was actually by the beach so it was my kind of school. As we got off the bus, I could practically smell the salty air of the sea. Tyson lead to the entrance where we joined the crowd of students that were heading in.

"You go ahead, Tyson I have to get my schedule and some other stuff from the administration's office, where is it?" I asked him.

"Just go that way." Tyson pointed. "See you later, brother."

I headed towards the administration's office. It was very busy when I arrived. Everyone I talked to was either busy with paper works or they're just simply ignoring me. After a few minutes, I gave up and was about to leave when someone said: "Can I help you, young man?"

I turned to find a middle-age man with thin brown hair and a beard sitting on a wheelchair but that was not what surprised me. Beside him was a girl with blond curly hair and stormy grey eyes. Annabeth.

"Um, yeah, I'm Percy Jackson and I'm new…" Wow, great way of impressing them, Percy.

"Ah, we've been expecting you, Mr. Jackson."

"My name's Chiron Brunner. I'm your Latin teacher and also your homeroom teacher." He turned to Annabeth, "and this is Annabeth Chase,"

"Yeah, we've met." My thoughts drifted to the 'bathroom incident'. Annabeth seemed to be thinking the same because she was watching me.

Mr. Brunner cleared his throat causing me to break Annabeth's gaze.

"Well, Annabeth could you show Percy around the school?" Mr. Brunner asked.

"Sure, Mr. Brunner."

"See you in class Percy." Mr. Brunner said as he wheeled out of the office.

'Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go." Annabeth beckoned at me to follow her.

"Here is the cafeteria. And down that hall would be the indoor gym." Annabeth explained to me as we walked down the hallways. Seaside High was actually bigger than I expected. A lot of students were walking pass us, getting to their homerooms. I vaguely saw a glimpse of Triton as we walked pass a group of senior-looking students. I still remember his smirk and thought of the ways he could use to get back at me.

"Percy! Percy! Hello?" Annabeth waving her hand in front of my face.

I stumbled back, surprised. "Sorry, what?"

Annabeth stopped in front of a set of doors,. "Were you even listening to me?"

"Yeah, of course." I lied.

Annabeth was not convinced, "OK, so what do these doors lead to?" She gestured at the doors behind her.

"Um…outside?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Very good, Percy. Doors do lead outside."

I tried to hide my embarrassment by asking a question. "So where does it lead to?"

Annabeth sighed in annoyance, "If you have been listening to me, these doors lead the outdoor basketball courts."

"I knew that…" I mumbled.

"Of course, you did." She rolled her eyes again. That habit was starting to annoy me.

"Come on, let's get to our homeroom." She turned around and was about to walk away when suddenly two guys laughing and holding a smaller guy rushed pass her and out the door.

"Are you okay?" I asked Annabeth who was looking a bit dazed.

She still had her back turned to me as she answered coldly, "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just go."

"What about them? Shouldn't we do something?"

Annabeth swiftly twisted around to face me, her grey eyes were narrow.

"You don't want to mess with them, Percy. Just leave them." Her voice was cold and shown no emotion.

"So you're just gonna leave them to bully the guy?" I retorted.

"We have no choice. If we mess with them, we might get into trouble." I could see that Annabeth was trying hard to stay calm.

"Well, if you're not going to do anything than I will." Not waiting for her response, I pushed open the door and went outside. The basketball court was empty.

I walked to the middle of the basketball court and glanced around.

"Percy!"

I jumped and twisted around to see Annabeth standing with her hand on her hip, looking very annoyed.

"What did I-" She was cut off by the sound of laughter that seemed to be coming from the back of the court where there was a dark corner.

"Percy, wait." Annabeth started to say but I was already headed towards the corner.

Behind me, I could hear Annabeth murmured under her breath, "Boys."

At the end the corner, I could see the smaller guy trying to defend himself against the two guys. He was no match for them. The two of them hauled the guy up by the arms and lifted him up. They were going to put him into the dumpster that was there.

I decided to show myself then.

"Hey!" I shouted trying to get their attention.

Unfortunately, they didn't notice me and threw the protesting guy into the dumpster. They both exploded with laughter as they high-fived each other. One of them saw me and nudged the other guy. Both of them stalked towards me, "Well, well, who do we have here?" The athletic looking guy spoke. He was handsome with blond hair and blue eyes; the only thing that ruined his image was the long scar that ran down from his left eye to his jaw. The other guy was shorter than him, with black hair and his left eye was covered with an eye patch.

"Luke, Ethan. What are you doing here?" Annabeth's voice came from behind me. I didn't know that she followed me but I was relieved that she did.

"Annabeth, aren't you suppose to be ready for your first class or something?" Ethan questioned, his tone was unfriendly.

"I was just showing Percy around." She replied back with any emotion showing in her voice.

"Percy? Percy Jackson. Triton's half-brother?" Oh great, here we go again.

I cut in before Annabeth could answer, "Yes, I'm Triton's half-brother."

Luke and Ethan looked at each other; both of them had a sinister grin on their faces. At that moment I knew something bad was going to happen.

"Triton told us about you, how you embarrassed him on your first day in his own house." Luke said coming closer to me.

"He said if we ever 'ran into you', we should teach him a lesson not to mess with him."

So this was Triton's way to get back at me. I felt so stupid. If I had listened to Annabeth and left these guys alone, they wouldn't find me this easily. I had walked straight into a trap.

Luke cracked his knuckles, "So you want to join Underwood in the dumpster eh?"

"Luke-" Annabeth started.

"No, its okay Annabeth. I could handle him." I told her. She looked at me as if I was crazy.

"Oh, he thinks he can handle me." Ethan laughed.

"Well, at least I don't go around throwing kids in the dumpster." I retorted.

Luke scowled, "I see why Triton hates you. Don't worry this won't hurt." He grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back. I tried to break free but his grip was too strong. "Let's see how tough you are now Jackson." He steered me towards the dumpster, my other arm was still free. If I punched him, chances are-

"Hey, who's there?"

All four of us jumped at the voice. It was coming from the basketball court. Annabeth's eyes widen, "Its Mr. D!"

Luke released me from his grip and sneered at me, "Saved by Mr. D, next time you won't be lucky Jackson." He and Ethan quickly ran out of the corner.

"Percy! Quickly, we've got to go before Mr. D-"

"Before I what? Young Lady"

Annabeth and I turned around to see a short man with a chubby face and curly hair, his hand on his hips.

"Nothing, sir. I was just showing Percy around." Annabeth said.

Mr. D eyes narrowed as if he can sense that she was lying.

_Bang, Bang, Bang _"Help." Someone squeaked from the dumpster.

With all the commotion that was going on, I forgot all about the guy in the dumpster. I quickly opened the lid of the dumpster and helped the guy out.

"You okay?" I asked him.

"Yeah, thanks" He replied, dusting himself.

"Ahem." Mr. D cleared his throat, "Cut the act, boy. I know you were the one who put him there." He said glaring at me.

"Sir, I-" I started.

"No excuses." Mr. D snapped. "Bullying is not accepted in this school."

"But we didn't do it" I protested.

"Well, then could you explain why the two of you are here, _alone_ by this dumpster?" Mr. D raised his eyebrow. I was really starting to dislike this guy.

"You see, sir-" Annabeth began.

Mr. D cut in "That was a rhetorical question." Annabeth turned red. He continued, "Detention, the both of you."

Before Annabeth and I could protest, the small guy said in a small voice.

"Sir, they didn't do it. They helped me."

"Mr. Underwood, would you also like to join them in detention?" Mr. D questioned.

"N-No, sir" he stammered.

"Now go to you first class, before I give you another detention." Mr. D barked at us. The three of us scurried into the building, after Mr. D was out of earshot Annabeth turned towards me and mumbled, "Thanks for getting me detention, hero."

Before I could say anything, she disappeared into the crowds of students.

* * *

**Reviews!**

**The next chapter Percy and Annabeth would have more interaction. So be patient, Percabeth fans :)**


	4. Chapter Four

**Hey guys, sorry for not updating faster but I have been very busy with school lately.**

**Thanks to those to reviewed, put on their favourite, and alerts :) It means so much to me!**

**So here's chapter four! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

* * *

**4. My Awesome First Day**

Despite the fact that I got detention on my first day at Seaside High, I made a new friend. The guy introduced himself as Grover Underwood. Apparently, we were in the same class so we were walking to math class together.

"I'm sorry for getting you detention." He said sadly, "It's my entire fault."

"Hey, it's not your fault." I tried to reassure him, "Anyway detention is not a big problem for me." I wasn't lying, at my old school in New York; I often got into trouble. Moving to a new school doesn't seem to change that fact.

"Still, I feel responsible for it…" Grover mumbled gloomily.

"Like I said it's fine."

Grover stopped. He turned to me and said, "How about you come and sit with me at lunch? It's the least I could do for getting you into trouble."

I grinned, "Sure, man why not?"

When we reach the classroom, everyone was already seated. I realised that we're late for class.

"Mr. Underwood, class started five minutes ago." A raspy voice said behind us.

We both turned and saw an old woman, wearing a black leather jacket even though she looked old enough to be a grandmother.

"Sorry, Mrs. Dodds." Grover mumbled looking down at his feet uncomfortably.

"Make sure it doesn't happen again, sit down." She said. Grover quickly stumbled to his seat. Mrs. Dodds turned to me, "You must be Perseus Jackson, I presume?"

I could hear the rest of the class snickered when they heard 'Perseus'. Great, I hate being called 'Perseus' and now the whole class knew my whole name. I could feel my face turning red as I nodded.

"Since this is your first time being late for my class, I would let you go. But if it happens again, you would get detention. Understand?" Mrs. Dodds said coldly.

I nodded again; her voice was making me feel uneasily.

"Good, now you can go sit next to Ms. Chase." She pointed to a seat beside Annabeth.

Annabeth didn't pay me any attention as I sat down. She kept staring at the front of the class. I figured she was still angry with me for getting her detention.

"Now class, open your textbooks to page sixty-eight…."

About half-way through the lesson, Ms. Dodds told us to pair up with the person next to them and solve questions about algebra. If we don't finish it in class then it would be homework. I moved my chair next to Annabeth. I noticed that she was almost finishing with the questions.

"Whoa, how did you do that?" I stared at her in disbelief. "I thought we were suppose to do it together."

Annabeth looked up from her work, frustrated.

"Well, I don't think you can simplify -2(x - 3) + 4(-2x + 8). Can you?" She snapped.

"What's your problem anyway?"

"My problem is that if you keep distracting me, I will not get this done and get more homework."

"Well, excuse me for bothering you but Mrs. Dodds said that both of us have to understand it or she will give even more homework." I retorted.

"So it's your fault then."

"How is it-" I started.

_Ring!_

"For those of you, who haven't finished the exercise, please finish it for homework." Mrs. Dodds said. "Enjoy your day."

Annabeth gritted her teeth then packed her things angrily, "Thanks a lot." She scowled then following the other students out of the classroom. Sighing, I packed my stuff and headed to my second class. I was hoping that I wouldn't have the same class as Annabeth again because judging the fact that I got her a detention and extra math homework, she wouldn't be thrilled to see me.

Fortunately, the next two classes went by smoothly without any trouble or detentions. I headed towards the cafeteria for lunch. Grover was very keen to keep his promise because as soon as he saw me, he waved frantically. I walked towards him.

"Hey" I greeted him as I sat down.

"Hey, Percy." Grover replied as he munched on his apple.

I got out my lunch that Delphin had packed for me and took a bite of my sandwich.

"So what class you do have next?" Grover asked.

"Hmm, I think its science."

"Cool, me too!" Grover grinned as he took another munch on the apple. "The science teacher, Mr. Kane is okay, except that he likes to give us extra homework so that we won't forget what we learnt in class."

"He couldn't be worse than Ms. Dodds right?" I shivered as I remembered her cold stare and her raspy voice. Grover gulped nervously, "Yeah, I guess."

A few minutes of silence passed. Then Grover spoke, "Is it true, that you're Triton's half-brother?"

I felt my anger rise a bit. Why does everyone care about me being his half-brother so much?

"Yes, I am." I answered trying not to sound annoyed and angry. But Grover seemed to notice it because he blurt out, "Sorry, for getting you in detention."

My anger melted, "Grover, I thought we understand each other. Don't be sorry. It's not your fault."

"Well, yeah but now since I know that you're his half-brother. He's so gonna kill you for getting his girlfriend in detention." Grover mumbled.

I try not to think of the things that Triton could do to me. I ensured Grover that I could take care of myself and maybe, just maybe Annabeth would help me out but again I got her detention and extra homework, she would be delighted to see me get my head stuck down a toilet or something.

Grover was still unconvinced, "I couldn't believe that Luke would do something like this."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Wasn't he like this before?"

Grover was starting to get nervous again, "Before Luke used to be a really nice guy; he would protect little kids who would get bullied by the bigger kids. He was like a hero to them." Grover paused looking around as if someone might overhear what he was saying.

"But then Triton came and he and Luke became friends and that's when Luke started to change. He didn't stand up for kids anymore; he skipped classes and started to hang out with the 'popular guys'. What he and Ethan did to me this morning didn't seem like the type of thing he would do. Sure, he changed but he never really did anything before…" Grover trailed off.

I was silent, letting the new information sink in.

Grover spoke on, "When Luke said that Triton told them to teach you a lesson, I was stunned to hear that they are following Triton's orders. Luke and Ethan never take orders from anyone."

Honestly I didn't really care about Luke and Ethan at that moment but then I remembered something, I blurted out, "Where's Tyson?"

Grover looked confused for moment, and then a look of dislike passed over his face. "Oh, the big guy? He doesn't usually eat lunch in the cafeteria. He eats outside on the beach with his buddies."

I suddenly felt guilty. I hadn't thought of him since this morning when I got into trouble.

"Don't worry about him." Grover said dismissively. I got a feeling that he didn't like Tyson very much. I decided not to ask why. Soon lunch came into an end, so Grover and I headed to our next class together.

I ran as quickly as I could down the halls. My footsteps echoed through the empty corridors. The school had ended some time ago and I should be heading to detention in Mr. D's room. I sharply turned at a corner and continued to run until I reached a door with a sign that read: Mr. D, School Grounds Supervisor. I took a deep breath as I opened the door and went in. There were only two people in the room: Annabeth and Mr. D.

Mr. D, who was flipping through a magazine of wine, looked up. "Ah, Peter Johnson has finally join us." He growled. "You're ten minutes late, boy."

"I'm sorry, I-" I started.

"I'm sorry, _sir._" He said.

"Sir." I repeated, "I got lost on the way."

"Young people, these days." Mr. D sighed, "Always making up excuses." He noticed that I was still standing there. "Well, sit down or do you want to get another detention?" I didn't want to get into more trouble than I already have so I went and sat down next to Annabeth.

Annabeth was reading a thick book about architecture, ignoring me like always. I kinda felt bad about getting her detention. Kinda. I didn't know what got into my head at that moment but I decided to apologize to her. I whispered, "Annabeth." No response.

"Annabeth." I tried again, louder this time. Silence.

"Annabeth!" I practically yelled.

"What!" She snapped.

"Look," I started nervously, why was I getting nervous? "I'm sorry for getting you detention alright?"

"Well, you should be. If you hadn't run off without thinking, we might not even be here." She retorted.

I was offended; here I was trying to apologize. "Hey!" I protested. "What did you want me to do?"

"I had a plan okay? And if you had stopped and listened to me-"

"And let Grover get into more trouble." I cut in. "I don't think so."

Before she could reply, I said, "It isn't my fault that you followed me."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes, "Next time, I would just let you get into trouble then."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"It's not-"

Mr. D cleared his throat, "Will you two just be quiet? This is a detention, for Zeus's sake, not a flirting session."

Annabeth and I both turned bright red.

Mr. D returned to his magazine with a satisfy look on his face.

"See what I mean? You always manage to get people into trouble." Annabeth said.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked getting annoyed with her. "I tried apologizing to you but you don't even accept it."

She was quiet for a moment. "Did Triton put you up to this?" I asked. When she didn't answer me, I continued, "Because if he did, I understand. I embarrassed him in his own house now I got his girlfriend in detention. If he told you to hate me or to make my life miserable then I get it." I looked over at her. Her face showed no expression at all but her eyes were blazing with mixed emotions.

"Triton did not put me up to anything." She said finally. "I didn't even tell him that I got detention because of you. I am deciding whether or not to tell him about it."

"Oh…" was all I could manage. I had thought so lowly of her. I thought that she would go straight to Triton after what had happen and tell him about it but she didn't. Maybe she wasn't that bad after all.

"I'm sorry…I didn't know." I said, really meaning it this time.

"Forget it." Her mind seemed to be a million miles away. "Just forget it."

By the time detention was over, it was getting dark. Mr. D was very thrilled to be out as well because he was the first person to rush out of the room. Annabeth and I walked out of the room together. Silence passed between us. It wasn't awkward but it wasn't comfortable either.

"So, how are you getting home?" I asked.

She adjusted her bag, "I guess I have to take the bus."

"Cool, me too."

Silence again.

"Does Triton pick you up everyday?" I blurted out. I expected her to get angry with me but she calmly replied, "Not on the days that he has practices." I chose not to ask any more questions fearing that I might ruin this neutral state between us.

We walked to the bus stop in front of the school and waited. I wasn't sure what to make of Annabeth right now. Sure, she is my half-brother's girlfriend and could be annoying and irritating sometimes but I have this feeling that she's gonna be more than what I expected. The bus arrived and we got on. It was quite crowded so Annabeth and I had to sit together. A few minutes later I asked breaking the silence, "What are you going to do when you get home?"

"Homework, I guess." She replied. "The math homework that I got because of you."

"I got that too, you know." I pointed out. "Besides, I thought you can finish that in like what? Ten minutes."

She snorted, "Yes, I actually can, unlike someone who has no clue to what he has to do." I shook my head, "Arg, don't even remind me about it."

There was a glint of humour in her grey eyes, "Who said that I was talking about you?"

I blushed, "Um…"

Annabeth laughed and I couldn't help joining in.

"Oh, this is my stop." Annabeth said as the bus came into a halt.

As she was about to get off, I blurt out the question that has been nagging my mind all bus ride. "Are you going to tell Triton?"

Annabeth turned her head and said, "Depends."

"On what?"

But Annabeth was already gone.

I sat there dumbfound as the bus continued its journey. I pondered about what she would do. _Maybe she wouldn't tell him since we got along just fine on the bus._ The good side of my mind voiced.

_Or maybe she was just trying to make you feel better before Triton pulverizes you. _The negative side of my mind reasoned.

The little debate continued in my head until the bus arrived in front of the mansion.

Delphin was waiting for me in front of the gates, "Welcome home, My Lord." He greeted.

"How was your first day of school?" He asked as we walked towards the mansion. I thought about how I got myself and Annabeth in detention, made enemies with Luke and Ethan, made friends with Grover and most importantly whether or not Triton will have fun beating me up when he knows about it.

"Awesome." I replied. "Just awesome."

* * *

**Don't forget to review!**

**Feel free to give any ideas or suggestions, I really appreciate them :)**


	5. Chapter Five

**Wow, it's been over a month...I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry! I feel so guilty... :(**

**Between school work which suddenly increases for some unknown reason and my parents sudden enthusiasm to go out every weekend, I just didn't have time to write... But no worries, I would always have time for fanfiction. Always.**

**I would like to give a big thanks to Percabeth97 who reminding me that people were still waiting for this story to be updated, an anonymous reviewer named Reader for your grammar tips and to my friends that goes by the names: wolfienur, Jcullen the Cat and XxSugarMinuetxX who pester me everyday to try to make me finish this chapter. **

**Well, I hope this chapter will make up for my month of non-updating :) Enjoy**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians...**

**

* * *

5. I Eavesdrop On A Top Secret Topic**

For the next couple of days, things were pretty much _normal. _Yup, when I said normal, I meant not getting into trouble, not getting any detentions and most of all not getting beaten up by Triton. He was still giving me his evil glare when we passed each other in the mansion or in school but other then that he didn't seem to know about me getting Annabeth in detention. For some unknown reason, Annabeth didn't go off, telling her boyfriend that his half-brother got her detention on his first day of school. Well, I guess that was a good thing that she didn't. I don't know what would happen to me if she did. However, the question that has been nagging my mind over and over again since the bus ride with her was that why she didn't tell Triton?

"_Depends." _

That's what she had said before getting off the bus. On what? I never knew the answer to that. I was hoping that I might, by chance; get to talk to her alone but I have no such luck like always. Whenever I saw her, she was always with Triton and his gang of friends. I wouldn't dare to talk to her in front of him if I value my life. So I shrugged off the question, thinking to myself that she probably didn't want to cause any trouble to her and Triton's relationship. Honestly, right now I am starting to get use to life at Seaside High and San Francisco. I thought that maybe I could have a steady time here but boy things were going to get crazier than I expected.

Grover and I were walking to our last lesson of the day, Latin, together. Grover was currently trying to persuade me to join the Environmental group which he was currently in.

"Come on, Percy," Grover begged, "The environment needs you. Don't you see how humans are clogging up the world so fast? There's like trash every where and the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky too!"

"So, I guess you want to be an environmentalist eh?"

Grover glared at me, "Only people who don't care about environment wouldn't be. It's useless to lecture those who don't."

I felt bad for him so I said, "Look man, I know you're into the environment and stuff and I mean, I know that you're great that this sort of stuff but I'm not. So I'll just let you handle it." Grover looked at me for a minute then asked, "Are you sure you don't want to join?"

I shook my head, "Sorry, buddy. I am a more of a water-related activities kind of guy."

Then a girl with wispy amber haired and an elfish face walked passed us. She smiled and wave, "Hey, Grover."

He waved back nervously, almost tripping on his own feet, "Hey, Juniper."

She giggled and walked by.

I raised an eyebrow, "So is she in the environmental group too?"

Grover blushed, "Yeah, she is."

"Ah, I see."

"Shut up, Percy."

We arrived at Latin class and separated to our seats. Tyson waved at me when he saw me, I waved back. Annabeth was sitting at the front, reading a thick book about Greek mythology. I tried to catch her eyes but she didn't look up from her book, so I gave up and sat down in my seat. Then Mr. Brunner wheeled to the front of the class and cleared his throat, the room fell silence.

"Today class, we are going to focus on Greece and its beliefs." Mr. Brunner started.

"Now as you all know Greece is generally considered to be the cradle of Western civilization. As such, it is the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, the Olympic Games, Western literature and historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, and Western drama, including both tragedy and comedy. Why the founders of this very school was descended from Greek Heritage as we can see from the Greek facades of this building."

Conner Stoll, the class prankster, interrupted, "So if the founders of this school were Greek than why don't they have the naked statues of people like they do in museums?"

The class laughed, even Mr. Brunner smiled a bit.

"Well, Mr. Stoll, if they decided to put up naked statues in this school, you'll be the first person to know."

The class erupted into laughter again. Mr. Brunner waved them down. "As I was saying before Mr. Stoll interrupted was that our founders are from the Greek descendants so we are going to honor their heritage by doing a project on Greek Gods." The whole class groaned.

"You will do this project with a partner. I will pick your partners to avoid any complications. This project will last for two weeks and count as 50% of your grade so I hope every one of you does the best of their ability. I will now read the pairings."

Mr. Brunner took out a piece of paper from his pocket and read out names.

Beckendorf would be with Silena Beauregard, which Beckendorf looked pretty happy about since he had this not so obvious crush on her. The Stoll brothers, Travis and Conner, would be together. No surprise. They did everything together. Mr. Brunner kept reading out names until he said, "Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase."

"What!" Annabeth and I shrieked in unison.

"No, no," Annabeth said, "There must be a mistake. I can't be partnered with him." She looked at me excepting me to have a say in this.

"Um, yeah, you see we kinda have this problem …" I trailed off, Annabeth gave me a 'is that your best excuse?' look and I just shrugged.

"Well, than this would be a very good chance to compromise that problem wouldn't it?" Mr. Brunner said, raising his eyebrow.

Both of us knew that nothing we said will change his mind so we numbly agreed on it.

Mr. Brunner continued to read out the names until finally he said, "And finally Tyson Atlantis with Grover Underwood."

Grover was suddenly on his feet. "Mr. Brunner, don't do this please."

Mr. Brunner sighed, "Is there a problem, Mr. Underwood?"

"A big problem." Tyson spoke up.

"Well, as I said to Mr. Jackson and Ms. Chase, this would be a good opportunity to get to know your classmates better. So no changes will be made to any partnership."

Grover and Tyson both looked at me pleadingly; I gave them an encouraging nod. Looking disappointed, the two of them sat back down. I felt better knowing that someone was also miserable with their partners and not just me.

"Since we are doing this project to honor the founders of this school, they have decided that the pair with the best project will get a chance to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York."

The news seemed to take everyone's attention and soon the whole class was buzzing with excited.

"Alright, alright, calm down," Mr. Brunner called out. "For the rest of the lesson, get together with your partner and start to plan your project."

Everyone moved to sit with their partners; I looked towards Annabeth and saw that she made no sign to move. Sighing, I got up and went to sit down beside her.

"So… Got any plans?" I asked her.

Annabeth turned to me, her grey eyes were narrowed in a very dangerous way, "Look, Percy. I really want to make this clear to you. This is a one time chance that I will be able to go to one of the best museums in the States so I want this project to be the best."

I just nodded, not really caring much about the museum. If we win this project, we will get to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art which is New York. So I might be able to sneak out to see mom. The thought of spending time with mom, even just for a short visit fueled my determination to do the project. I have to admit, I miss her more than I could have imagined.

"First, how good is your knowledge of Greek mythology, Percy?" Annabeth asked.

I grinned. "Yes, I know quite a lot about Greek mythology."

I was pretty confident about it, you see Latin was the only subject that I really did well on. I think Poseidon might have something to do with it, I remembered that my mom once told me that he had Greek parents and used to live in Greece before he moved here.

"Really?" Annabeth asked skeptically.

I opened my mouth to retort back but Annabeth put her hand up to say 'don't'.

"Okay, so we are going to do Pallas Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle," She explained, as she quickly scribbled the information down on paper. "Athena was born fully-grown from Zeus' head in full battle armor…"

"Hey, wait." I stopped her. "Why are we doing Athena? Why can't we do like the one of the Big Three?"

That stopped Annabeth, "The what?"

"The Big Three?" The confusion on Annabeth's face was amusing.

"The supposedly know-it-all-girl doesn't know who the Big Three are?" The idea of me knowing something that Annabeth doesn't was the most entertaining thing that I have ever experienced since I knew her.

Annabeth wasn't impressed, she glared at me with her grey eyes narrowed as if she was analysing how to torture me into giving in. I continued to laugh until she punched me in the shoulder. "Ow." I rubbed my shoulder trying to reduce the pain.

"Sheesh no need get violent." I complained, "You could have just asked."

"That wouldn't be fun would it?" She said innocently.

"You are so weird."

"The Big Three are the three most powerful gods in all of Olympus: Zeus, God of the Sky, Hades, God of the Dead, and Poseidon, God of the Seas. My old Latin teacher used to call them that so we will remember them." I explained.

Annabeth pondered on this for a moment. "It does make sense… but no, we're still doing Athena."

Before I could argue any farther she asked, "What are you doing after school?"

I managed to say, "Um… after school activities?"

She rolled her eyes, "No duh. So meet me at the library at 5?"

It didn't sound like a question more like an order.

"Yea, sure." I agreed as the bell rang.

Annabeth gathered her books and papers and stood up, "Don't be late." She warned.

I got up, bided Mr. Brunner goodbye and walked out of the class. "Brother!" Tyson called. "Wait for me."

I stopped until Tyson caught up with me, "Got partnered with Goat-boy." He mumbled.

"Goat-boy?" I asked, amused.

"He does look like one." Tyson said seriously.

I laughed out loud. "I'm sure he'll be pleased to hear that."

"Where are you going anyway?" I asked Tyson,

"To the beach, there are some tryouts for water-sports today and Triton needs my help with his jet-ski."

Then Tyson stopped, turned to face him and grinned, "Percy, why don't you come with me? You can try out for surfing."

I hesitated, thinking about being with Triton after school but then again if I could do something that I am good at why throw away that chance?

"Sure, buddy."

A few minutes later we arrived at the beach. There were a few docks leading into the sea. Bleachers were set up across the sand. A volley court was next to them. Tyson lead me to one of the docks where a bunch of jet-skis were lined up. Triton was polishing his blue jet-ski while talking to a bunch of guys with surf-boards; Luke was also there.

As soon as Triton saw us, his face broke into a grin.

"Percy, Tyson, what a surprise to see you here." He greeted us.

Okay, I wasn't expecting that from him. Maybe he was up to something…

"So Percy, are you here for the surfing tryouts?" Triton asked me,

"Yeah."

"Well," He looked at me up and down, "I'm sure you'll do great." There was sarcasm in his tone but I was not going to let that stop me.

Triton continued, "The changing rooms are over there." He pointed to a row of shacks. "Ask for a wetsuit at the counter. There are surf-boards by the racks outside the shacks. When you're done, meet us over there." He gestured to an area of the beach where a set of bleachers were.

"I'll be there to cheer on you brother!" Tyson said excitingly.

"Whoa, not so fast big guy. You need to go and check on Vortex, she was acting weird when I took her for a ride." Triton ordered.

Tyson face fell, "Yes, Triton. I'll take a look at her."

Triton turned back to me, "You better get going, before they start without you."

I glared at him and nodded to Tyson and went to the changing rooms to change. I came back out in a blue wetsuit and chose the best conditioned board from the rack. By the time I got to the bleachers where the try outs were held, it was full of people. I scanned the bleachers looking for familiar faces, I saw Annabeth sitting at the front row talking to a punk-looking girl. Occasionally, they would send glares to Triton then to Luke who was standing by the shore. Tyson and Grover were also among the crowd but they were sitting separately from each other. I walked towards the shore line and stuck my board in the sand. Breathing in the salty air and feeling the breeze ruffling my hair, I was finally beginning to feel like I was home. _Almost._

"Percy!" Triton called as he ran to me.

"You are the last person for the try outs." He said. Then he smirked, "Good Luck, Perce. You're going to need it." And with that he talked away.

"Ladies and Gentlemen." A voice boomed from the speakers. "Welcome to Seaside High's surfing try outs. Good Luck to the three contestants and let's begin!"

The first guy was pretty good he scored a 7 from the judges. The second guys wasn't so lucky, he didn't balance his weight very well and fell down so he got a 5. Now it was my turn. I picked up my board and walked to the shore. The previous surfer gave me a slap on the back and wished me good luck. I breathed in deeply and started to paddle out into the sea. I waited in the sea for a wave. I wished that it would be a good one. Then, the calm waters started to swirl. I got on my board ready to fight the wave. As the wave rose I could feel it carrying me up with it, there were no words to describe what I was feeling right now. As I was flying down the line of the giant wall of water, dragging my hand through the glassy face as it builds in front of me. It felt so unreal. Nothing matters when I'm surfing. Nothing. Life's worries just completely fade away in the moments of that sweet ride. As I waded back to the beach, I could hear the crowd cheering. As I walked up to the beach people were silent waiting for the judges to announce my score. After a few minutes, the judges came to a decision and gave me an 8.5. The crowd roared. People near me clasped me on the back congratulating me. I was about to go and change, when Triton made his way towards me.

"Congratulations." He said.

"Thanks." I replied back suspiciously.

"Well, I guess you truly have the Atlantis bloodline in you." Triton said dismissively.

"Look, I gotta go somewhere so see you." I said, ignoring his comment.

"Oh, Annabeth told me about the Latin project and how you're her partner." Triton said moving closer to me. "I suggest that you don't give her any trouble or else…"

I scowled, "Like I'm the one who gives other people trouble."

"Be careful with you words, Perseus. For one day it might get you into trouble." Triton glowered then turned about than walked away.

I arrived at the library at 4.55. I quickly went in and looked around trying to find Annabeth. _If I were Annabeth, what section in the library would I be in? _I thought to myself. However, I couldn't find her anywhere. I thought that she might be late, but then again Annabeth doesn't seem to be the type of person who would be late. Especially when she threatened to kill me if I'm late.

I was walking aimlessly in mythology section of the library when I heard a familiar voice from the corner, "Come on, Thalia. You see how he was hanging out with those guys."

_Annabeth_

Another voice replied, this one I was not familiar with, "I know, I know, but I thought that he could change back to the old Luke."

_Luke_

Why is Annabeth talking about Luke? I moved behind a shelf and inched closer until I saw them. Annabeth was sitting with her back to me; across from her was the punk looking girl I saw talking to Annabeth earlier by the bleachers. Now that I saw her closer, she had electric blue eyes, black spiky hair and freckles around her nose. She was wearing punk-style clothes: black tank-top with cut-worn jeans and military style boots. I am guessing that this might be Thalia.

"He tried to ask me out again." Thalia mumbled.

"Who? Luke?"

"Of course, Luke. Who do you think? Ethan?" Thalia retorted sarcastically.

"No need to be sarcastic, Thals." Annabeth replied back calmly.

"Right sorry." Silence came over them. I shifted uncomfortably; I wasn't usually an eavesdropper but since I was supposed to meet Annabeth here so it didn't seem wrong.

"So what did you say?" Annabeth asked softly breaking the silence.

"Of course, I said no. How could I say yes when he's acting all weird?"

Sighing Thaila spoke again, "You know? Zoe Nightshade's Eternal Maiden's Club doesn't sound so bad after all."

"Seriously? I thought you hate her."

"Well, her Shakespearian language is better than mulling myself about a guy."

I could see Annabeth nodding her head in agreement.

"This is all Triton's fault!" Thalia said disgustingly.

"We already agreed on that point a long time along."

"You should confront him and punch him in the guts for doing what he did to Luke!"

Annabeth sighed, "Look, it can't be that easy Thals. I'm dating him now."

"Why do you care anyway, I thought you wanted to date him because you wanted to ex—"

"Thalia! Shut up!" Annabeth shouted.

A few people turned in their direction. Annabeth blushed and harshly whispered, "You swore, you'll never bring it up in public!"

"Sorry, sorry. I was overreacting."

"As I was saying I can't do that because of Percy."

I was shocked. What do I have to do with this?

"Percy? Oh, Triton's half-brother who moved in with him? I guess that this must really make him angry doesn't it?"

Annabeth snorted, "Oh, you have no idea how he had been complaining and saying how he would make Percy look bad in front of his father but I haven't seen him done anything but talk."

"Then aren't you going to tell Percy about what Triton's been doing?"

Annabeth was quiet for a moment. At this point, my heart was racing so fast that it might jump out of my chest. My hands were getting sweaty with every second passing.

Then Annabeth next words send a shock through my whole body, "Because he might be exactly like Triton.

* * *

**I'll have to apologize in advance for the surfing scene... I have never been surfing and neither have my friends so I just researched it so if I described it wrong or you can't understand it, I'm sorry.**

**Review! Ideas and suggestions are welcome :)**

**I'll try to update as soon as possible but there would be no promises... but I'll try!**

**P.S. Who's excited for Rick Riordan's new series: The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book one) I know I am!**


	6. Chapter Six

**I'm sorry... I know that I haven't updated for a very long, long, long, long time... I know that this excuse must be lame but I blame it on school :P Don't worry exam week is now over so expect faster updates from now on :) Because it's the SUMMER OF FANFICTION!**

**By the way, have you guys read the sample chapters of The New Hero? OMG, you won't believe what happened... I want to punch something since we have to wait until Oct.12 to find out what happens next...**

**So here's the next chapter! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

**

* * *

6. Two Unexpected Surprises**

"_Because he might be exactly like Triton."_

I stood there frozen, letting her words sink in. This wasn't the answer I was expecting at all maybe '_because he's too dumb to accept it' _would be something that Annabeth would say. What does she mean when she said that I am exactly like Triton? She was there when I soaked him with toilet water. Being like Triton wouldn't involve me being getting into trouble or being picked on by Luke and Ethan. I wondered what Triton had done to Luke, Thalia and Annabeth that they thought I would be like him which I would never, ever be.

I realised that neither Thalia nor Annabeth had spoken. The library was now quiet, too quiet. I was not going to reveal my self until I know what exactly Triton did to them, that made Thalia hate him so much, but again Triton is probably on everyone's Most-Hated-List so no surprises there. I was about to move closer to them when I heard a squeaking noise behind me. I jumped back, surprised and accidently knocked the books on the shelves with my elbows. I stumbled forward, throwing my arms out wildly, catching the books before they hit the ground. "Phew, that was close." I sighed, panting slightly from the sudden excitement. I hugged the books tightly fearing that they might drop out of my arms and alarmed Annabeth and Thalia. Of course once again, I was wrong.

"Did you hear that?" Annabeth asked, looking around.

"Yeah, it's coming from behind those shelves." Thalia answered back. "I'll go check it out." I heard the chair moved and footsteps approaching nearer and nearer to my hiding place. I gulped, looking around promptly trying to find another way to escape. Unfortunately, there was no other way out. The only way out was to walk forward which involves me revealing myself to them which would straight away make me an eavesdropper. With a snap decision, I decided to pretend that I just arrived. I prayed that my acting would be convincing. Holding the books under my arm, I confidently walked out from behind the shelves. Thalia was halfway towards me while Annabeth was still sitting down.

"Annabeth!" I greeted her, with fake surprised. "I was looking everywhere for you."

I started to walk towards her but then Thalia stepped in front of me, blocking my way. "So you're the infamous Percy Jackson? Triton's brother?" Thalia growled looking at me up and down as if I was a deadly disease.

Before I could answer, Annabeth replied, "Yes, this is him, Percy meet Thalia. Thalia, Percy."

Thalia was now staring at me with this kind of electricity. No, not the kind you get when you found somebody you're interested in but the kind that makes you feel like you want to start a fight with someone. Someone like her. I tried not to be affected by her stare but it was hard to so I stared back at her, hoping that she would be the first one to break the gaze. However, it doesn't seem like she is going to do it soon so I broke our stare off before anything bad happens. I sidestepped Thalia and smiled at Annabeth. Thalia saw this and scowled at me but I ignored her.

However, Annabeth didn't smile back. "What took you so long?" She demanded. "I've been waiting for you for five minutes."

_And I have been waiting for you to finish your conversation with Thalia too. _I thought but instead I said, "Sorry, Triton kept me to tell me about my surfing schedule."

At the mention of Triton's name, Thalia suddenly became sensed and blocked me again. "So now your being Triton's pet now are you?" She sneered.

"Afraid that you won't get notice? You want to be popular don't you? That's why you're following Triton around."

Anger burned inside of me. Why does everyone like to compare me with Triton when they haven't know me at all? I pushed the feeling down and asked her through my gritted teeth, "What's your problem?"

"My problem is _you_. Jackson." She retorted, putting as much venom in the word 'you' as possible.

I tried not to flinch, "I have no idea what you are talking about."

Thalia let out a hollow laugh, "Don't mess with me. I know that _your brother _made you befriend Annabeth so you can spy on her and tell him what she's saying about him. Then he could use that against us and make us do whatever he wants!"

I was sure that the last part wasn't about me anymore but I was still offended.

"Hey, Triton is my _half-brother _and no he hasn't sent me to befriend anybody. Annabeth and I were chosen to be partners okay? And for your information, I wouldn't be listening to Triton anyway so back off!" I said furiously, I hope that my tone will make Thalia know that this conversation was over. However, Thalia had other ideas; she grabbed me by my collar and pulled me towards her until my face was inches from hers.

"You're asking for this Jackson!" Thaila sneered in my face.

Before anything worse could happen, Annabeth stepped in between us, pushing me and Thaila apart. "Thaila, calm down, Percy's just here because I told him to. He's not here to do _anything_." She stressed the word _anything _meaning _anything bad…_

For a moment I thought that Thaila would ignore Annabeth and beat me up (don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid or anything but Thaila didn't look like the type of girl you would mess with.) but she just sighed and released me.

"Fine," Thaila said, turning away from me. "He's not worth it anyway; I doubt that he could even beat me in sprinting." I was about to snap back but Annabeth gave me a don't-say-anything-or-I'll-kill-you-look so I stayed quiet.

Thalia turned back to Annabeth, "I have to go now. I've wasted enough time here." She hugged Annabeth, and whispered something in her ear. Annabeth nodded and they let go of each other. "And as for you," she directed at me, "I'll be keeping a close eye on you." Then she stalked out.

After Thalia was out of earshot, Annabeth sighed and shook her head, making some blond strand that were already in a loose ponytail fall to her face. She tries to brush them away but it was no use. It was kinda cute… _Whoa, I did not just think that… _

I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts. "What's up with Thalia?" I asked, sitting down at the table. "I didn't even do anything to her. Heck, I didn't even know her till today." Annabeth sat down opposite of me, "She's just got a lot on her mind right now."

"Like Luke?" I blurted out, remembering the conversation between her and Annabeth.

Annabeth suddenly sat up straight, "What did you say?" She asked.

"Um… what?" I said stupidly.

"What did you say?" She repeated slowly as if talking to a five-year old.

"We should really get on with our project!" I said urgently, "You know since I'm late…"

"Don't use that excuse!" She snapped, "Were you eavesdropping on us?"

I was shifting uncomfortably in my seat. How did she figure it out so fast?

"Noooo… Why would I eavesdrop on you?" I said, trying not to feel guilty.

Annabeth narrowed her eyes, "Don't you dare lie to me, Jackson. I know when people are lying or not."

"Why do people always accuse me of something that I didn't do?" I said dramatically, praying that Annabeth would buy it. "Seriously? Why would I eavesdrop on you and Thalia?"

Annabeth looked at me as if I was the stupidest guy in the world which I probably am but then something unusual happened her gaze softened and she let out a deep breathe as if calming herself down. She believed me!

She started hastily, "Um…yeah… look…" For the first time that I met her, Annabeth Chase was lost for words.

I cut her off, before she could continue her struggle, "Look, it's all right. I get it."

Annabeth immediately look very relieved like the sky was lifted off her shoulders.

A minute passed by as Annabeth and I sat in silence, looking anywhere but each other. "So…" Annabeth clears her throat, "We should get started on our project. We wasted too much time already."

"That's what I was saying."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Yes, yes, now stop saying it and start to actually do it."

"Okay, but I still disagree on your choice of god that we are doing. I want to do Poseidon."

"Give me a few _good _reasons why we should do Poseidon. I might reconsider it." Annabeth challenged me.

I huffed, and thought really hard, trying to remember the things I learn about Poseidon.

"Well," I started, "He's one of the big three," Annabeth raised an eyebrow, "Okay, okay, he's the god of the sea, storms and earthquake. He created horses, not to mention he has a really cool trident…"

Annabeth snorted, "What?" I asked.

"You want to do Poseidon because he's got a really cool trident?"

"What's your point?" I asked, getting annoyed.

"My point is that Athena is the goddess of _wisdom, _she not only won the contest between her and Posiedon for being the patron god of Athens but also helped Odysseus on his journey…" Then she started to ramble all the myths about Athena. I smiled, some things never changed.

"What are you smiling about now?" Annabeth demanded, stopping her rant.

"Nothing, nothing at all."

Annabeth shook her head, "You're so weird." She stood up and went to look at the books on the shelf; she noticed that I wasn't moving anywhere so she ordered, "Well, what are you waiting for? Get up and look for book associating with Athena, although I already know most of the things that are in them, we still need sources of our information."

I knew that I couldn't change her mind so I got up and decide to listen to her for once.

Hours later, I was mindlessly going through thick, old books about Greek Mythology while Annabeth was flipping through books enthusiastically, jotting down notes every couple of minutes. I don't know how she could stay in the library for hours and not get bored… it's one of those many wonders of Annabeth that will remain a mystery.

The library was quiet since most of the people are already gone, the only noise in there were the flapping of the books. I yawned, looking up at the clock, it was 7.45 already. Wow, we've been in the library for almost 2 hours…

"Ahem." Someone cleared their throat from behind us. We turned around and saw the librarian standing there, "The library is going to be closed now and before you leave." she pointed to the pile of books on the table, "Make sure you put them back where you took them from."

"Yes, we'll put them away." Annabeth told her, the librarian nodded and went away.

I stood up and stretched, sitting down for two hours made my leg really numb.

"Alright, we're done for today." Annabeth announced, putting her notebook in her bag.

"Duh. The library is closing now or you want to sleep in the library? I didn't know you are that desperate to finish the project."

Annabeth flushed, "Shut up and put the books away, Percy."

I decided to mess with her a little, "Why me? I got them for you, now it's your turn to put them back."

Annabeth gave me an are-you-serious-look; I returned it with a smile.

"What did I do to deserve this?" She mumbled to herself, I chuckled; she was so easy to get to.

"I was kidding. Man, you need to chill little, Annabeth." I told her as I started to gather the books into my arm.

"If I _chill_, we would never get this project done, would we?" She retorted, smugly.

Ouch. Damn she's good…

We walked out of the library into the fresh, breezy air of San Francisco. I glanced at the clock in inside a store that we pass and saw that it was 8.15. I had missed dinner at the mansion. Timing was a very strict thing in the mansion. Delphin told me that dinner would be served exactly at 8 o'clock; if anyone arrives later than that, then dinner won't be served to that person. Looks like I'm eating out tonight…

"Hey, isn't the bus stop that way?" Annabeth questioned, stopping their walk. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find something to eat."

"Aren't you eating at the mansion?"

I sighed, "No, the dinner at the mansion is at 8, I'm already fifteen minutes late I doubt anyone would save me something. Maybe Delphin and Tyson will try to but I don't think Amphitrite will let that happen." I realised that I was rambling but Annabeth didn't seem to mind, she nodded understandingly.

"Yeah, I remember once when Triton invited me to dinner, I was a minute late or so Amphitrite was looking at me like she wanted to feed me to the fishes or something."

I laughed, "Don't worry, I think she has that look all the time."

She grinned as well, "Good, because I thought she only hated me."

I grinned back, the both of us stood there, smiling at each other. Annabeth seem to have notice this because she was the first to look away, embarrassed. "So, I guess. I'll see you Monday?" I said, trying to get rid of the awkwardness.

"Yeah… Sure." was her reply.

I turned around and started to walk, I didn't know any good restaurant around here; this could take all night just to find the right restaurant…

"Percy! Wait!"

Surprised, I stopped and looked over my shoulder and saw that Annabeth was running to catch up with me. Annabeth stopped in front of me, smiling slightly. I thought that she was going to remind me to do the project over the weekend or something so I quickly said, "I know what you're going to say, I'll try my best to do the project over the weekends."

Annabeth looked surprise for a split second but then recovered, "Yes, you should but that wasn't what I was going to say." I raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't we go have dinner together?" She asked in her casual tone.

Did she just ask me… out? For dinner…?

The shock must have been shown on my face because Annabeth blushed, she must have figured out what I was thinking.

"No… I mean… you're late for dinner anyway right? So I figure that we could have more time to discuss the project while we have dinner."

I was still not convinced. Having dinner, _alone, _with my half-brother's girlfriend was not the best idea ever but since Annabeth and Thalia had been talking about him and Triton secretly, it would be a perfect opportunity to find out why.

"Hello? Earth to Percy?" Annabeth waved her hand in front of my face.

"Yeah, sure. That's a good idea." I mean it's just dinner right?

"Well, that took you long enough, come on, let's take my car." She took my arm and started dragging me back to the library parking lot.

"Wait, you have a car?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "I don't use it that often, but yes, I do have a car."

Her car was parked in front of the library; it wasn't a fancy car like Triton's. It was a silver Audi that still looked new.

Both of us got in the car, Annabeth started the engine and we pulled out of the parking lot. "So? Where are we going?" I asked when we were driving on the main road.

Annabeth just smiled, "Patience, Percy. Patience."

"Are we there yet?"

"No and that is the last time I'll answer you!" Annabeth snapped at me.

'We've been driving for like ten minutes now and I'm hungry…" I whined, me, a sixteen-year-old-guy, whining. Can you imagine that?

Annabeth rubbed her forehead with a free hand, "Gods, I didn't know you can act like a four year old."

I stuck my tongue out at her. Hey, blame the hungriness.

"I am just going to ignore that." She mumbled, "Oh, we're here!"

Annabeth parked the car in front of a small restaurant; the sign above the door had a maze on it, beneath it in Greek-font were the words "The Labyrinth"

"This place looks old." I commented, as I got out of the car.

"Don't judge a person by their looks."

"The restaurant is not a person!"

Annabeth gave me her are-you-really-this stupid-look, "Let's just go in."

The place wasn't very big. It had only a couple of tables which were mostly occupied. On the walls, were hand-drawn diagrams for buildings and machines which were way too complicated for me to understand but Annabeth seemed to be fascinated by them. We sat down at an empty table by the corner; a bored looking waiter came to take our orders. I ordered hamburgers with fries while Annabeth ordered spaghetti. The waiter just grunted and went off. "Wow, I bet he's gonna get employee of the month if he keeps it up." I murmured to Annabeth.

"Daedalus wouldn't employ him if doesn't do the job well, so I think that it might be his bad day or something." Annabeth responded, looking at the diagram on the wall.

"Who's Daedalus?"

Annabeth looked at me; I thought she was going to yell at me for asking such a stupid question but she didn't, instead she answered me, "Daedalus is the owner of this restaurant, and he is a brilliant inventor, artist and architect. See, the drawings and diagrams on the walls? That's his work. Isn't amazing?" She asked her voice full of wonder and admiration.

"Yes, it's awesome." I told her, trying not to make her mad. "They look really good."

"You have no idea what they are, don't you?"

I blushed. "Am I that bad at lying?"

She laughed, "You have no idea."

After a while our food came, I was so hungry I dug in right away, earning a disgusted look from Annabeth.

We made small talk while we ate, I told her bits about my life like my mom, Paul, my old school in New York. She told me about her family, her dad, step-mother and her two annoying brothers. Not only that this was the first time we really had a decent conversation but to tell you the truth, I was actually having a good time listening and talking to Annabeth. _I must be going mad… _ I thought to myself.

"Okay, I have to admit;" I said as we arrived in front of the mansion "Your choice of restaurant was good."

Annabeth had offered me to drive me home since it was late by the time we had finished eating, I was happy to take her offer since I was too tired to take the bus home.

"I told you that it was good. You would probably be having poisonous food right now if it hadn't been for me." Annabeth smirked at me.

"Well, thank you Ms. Chase for saving my life." I replied sarcastically.

"You're welcome."

I got out of the car, Annabeth rolled down the window so we could talk.

"You're not coming in?" I gestured at the mansion.

"Nah, since we didn't actually talk about our project at The Labyrinth, we have more work to do so I'm gonna go home and work on it."

I should probably explain why we didn't have time. Remember when I said, I was actually enjoying the dinner? Well, I guess that Annabeth did too, she didn't mention about it so I thought why bring it up?

"Does Triton know?"

Annabeth scoffed, "I'm sure that he won't even noticed, he told me that he had to take care of business at home so I didn't bother telling him."

I don't know why but that made me feel better inside.

Annabeth opened her mouth like she was going to say something to me but then closed it, like she wasn't sure if she should tell me or not.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired that's all."

I didn't believe her, but I didn't push it, "So I guess I'll see you on Monday."

"Don't forget to work on the project!" she reminded me.

Letting a smile show, I said "I won't forget."

"I certainly hope so." She said as she drove off.

I stood there, watching the silver Audi until it disappeared into the night. Still smiling, I walked into the mansion.

Delphin, as usual, greeted me when I walked in but something was different about the way he was dressed, instead of wearing his normal short-sleeved shirt and khaki shorts, he was wearing a dark blue suit.

"Welcome back, sir. May I ask where you've been?"

I rolled my eyes at his formality, "I was having dinner." I didn't dare tell him that I was with Annabeth. Delphin seemed nice but I was not going to trust him with things involving Triton.

Delphin nodded, so I asked, "What's with the suit? Going somewhere?"

"Delphin is not going anywhere." A voice came from the stairs.

Amphitrite.

She was wearing a long, elegant looking blue-green dress which glided across the floor when she walked.

"Where were you Perseus? We have been waiting for you for hours."

"I'm sorry." I said, not really caring "I didn't know that you would be waiting."

Amphitrite narrowed her eyes, "Don't you dare use that tone with me, Perseus. Didn't you listen to Triton?"

Now I was really confused and angry, "What are you talking about?"

"I can't believe that you're his son…" Amphitrite murmured, shaking her head. "Just go to the roof, someone is waiting for you there."

I was going to ignore it but something told me that whoever was waiting for me at the roof must be very important. Important enough to wait for me.

"Fine."

I started up the stairs, ignoring Amphitrite who was glaring at me. Once I got to the last floor, I saw a double door that lead outside. I opened them and was hit with a small cool breeze, walking out I saw no one waiting for me. I guess that whoever it was tired of waiting for me and left.

Sighing, I leaned against the railing, since the mansion is located near the beach so there wasn't really much light here so the only light that could actually be seen was the stars in the sky.

I cranked my neck to look at the sparkling little dots that fill the sky. I don't really know the name of the constellations, my mom tried to teach me some when I was little.

Usually when we were at Montauk, we would sit together by the beach and look up at the stars. I wondered how my mom and Paul were doing right now…

"Looking at the stars?" A deep, gentle voice asked.

I jumped, surprised and saw a silhouette of a man walking towards me. He stopped a few feet from me and looked up at the sky as well. It was dark so I couldn't make out his face.

"Do you see those stars over there?" He pointed, "That's Ursa Major also known as the Great Bear."

I looked where he pointed and vaguely saw what looked like a sparkling shape of a bear. "Wow…"

The man chuckled, his voice deep and firm. It sounded familiar…

"Do you know the myth about it?"

I shook my head.

"In Greek mythology, Zeus lusts after a young woman named Callisto, a nymph of Artemis. Hera, Zeus's wife, turns Callisto into a bear because of her jealousy. Callisto, while in bear form later encounters her son Arcas. Arcas almost shoots the bear, but to avert the tragedy, Zeus sweeps them both into the sky, forming Ursa Major."

I don't know why I was listening to him. I should be afraid or suspicious of him because he was some stranger on the mansion roof, talking to me about stars… but for some reason I didn't feel afraid or suspicious. I just felt calm by his presence.

Sighing, the man came to stand beside me. I could faintly see his dark hair and beard but I can't see his eyes since he saw looking straight, focusing in the direction of the sea. _He smells like the sea _I thought. _Probably because we're near the beach. _ I reasoned with myself.

"I would do the same if I were Zeus, save my beloved and my son from a tragic and miserable life." He told me. "Although Amphitrite isn't likely going to turn your mother into a bear."

That's when it hit me. The man standing next to me was Poseidon, my father…

* * *

**Soooooooo... what do you think?**

**A little question: What characters would you like to see in future chapters? **

**Leave your thoughts and answer in the review and I'll see what I can do!**


	7. Chapter Seven

**Hey guys another update! This is like the fastest update ever :P School's over now so I have all the time in the world!**

**OMG! This story has 135 reviews! I can't believe it! Thank you soooooooooooooooooooo much for reviewing, it means so much to me!**

**This chapter is dedicated to Nurazlin (wolfienur) since it's her birthday today! I hope that you have a lovely, lovely life ahead of you :) May you one day meet Josh Groban, William Moseley, Nathan Fillion and all your other dream guys :P**

**You may notice that I have less mistakes in my writing in this chapter, well I would like to give a big thank you to my 'unofficial' beta reader ComeWriteOutAndSayIt for looking at this chapter and giving me suggestions on how to improve :) **

**Anyway, enjoy this chapter :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

**

* * *

7. Family Dinners Are The Best**

"Dad?"

Poseidon gave me a warm smile. "Percy."

Shock. Happiness. Anger. My emotions were whirling. My mind was a jumbled mess. I just couldn't make sense of it at all.

Poseidon must have seen the confusion on my face because he laughed and patted my shoulder, "I've been waiting to meet you for a very long time now, son."

_Then why don't you just call? Or send a letter? Or something? _I thought bitterly to myself.

"As you probably know," Poseidon continued sadly, "I asked your mother to move here with me so I could take care of both of you, but your mother refused saying that I already had one family to take care of."

I continued to stare out at dark horizon, listening to the soft sound of the rushing waves at the beach.

"She's right though, isn't she?" I said after a while, looking sideways at Poseidon.

Poseidon sighed, "Yes, she is. The thought of leaving you two alone was bad enough, but when she didn't contact me, I thought that the both of you were happy on your own."

"We are fine." I said shortly, not wanting Poseidon to ask questions about my life.

Another moment of silence passed between us. To tell you the truth, I was nervous. Try meeting your dad for the first time. Trust me, you would feel the same way.

That said, I could tell I wasn't the only one nervous that night—even business tycoons feel a bit of anxiety. After all, if the first time you met your son happened to be in your own home, you'd be nervous, too. Not exactly your typical father-son bonding time is it?

"So what was the giant bear about?" I asked nonchalantly, trying to make small talk.

"Oh, well, I saw that you were gazing that the stars so I decided to tell you about Ursa Major, one of my favourite constellations." Poseidon explained while craning his neck to look at the luminous sky.

Poseidon turned to face me. This was the first time that I had seen his face. He looked exactly the way Mom said he would: a middle aged man with neatly trimmed salt and pepper beard, dark hair, and sea-green eyes that reflect the ocean like mine.

"I wasn't sure if you were going to show up." Poseidon stated. "After all, why would you want to meet me after all this time?" he sighed deeply. "I told Amphitrite to tell you that I wanted to see you, but she said that you weren't home yet. So… I waited."

"I was working on a school project with my partner, and we talked about it over dinner. So yeah…" I told him, trying not to revealing my partner's identity.

Poseidon nodded.

The two of us stood silently, gazing at the stars. It was a peaceful moment between us. I was starting to enjoy it when someone knocked on the door.

Delphin walked out and bowed to Poseidon, "I am sorry to interrupt, my lords, but Mistress Amphitrite, Master Triton, and Master Tyson are waiting for you in the dining hall."

"Thank you, Delphin. We'll be on our way."

Delphin bowed again and left.

I was about to go inside when Poseidon put a hand on my shoulder to stop me, "Wait, Percy. I need to tell you something."

Poseidon sighed before continuing, "I know that my wife and son can be— how do I put this— a bit spiteful to you."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. _You have no idea… _

"You shouldn't mind them… I mean you don't have to worry about it…" Poseidon rambled on.

I cut him off, "Its okay, I don't mind it."

Poseidon looked at me skeptically, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." I said with more confidence. At this moment, I didn't care what Amphitrite and Triton thought of me. All I care was that I was going to fulfill my promise to my mom, the promise that I would enjoy my stay at the mansion for a year. After that, it's back to the Big Apple with me!

"Okay then," Poseidon said with relief, "Let's go and have our first family dinner together."

Although I already had dinner, I didn't think Poseidon would want me absent. So, I decided to go along with it.

_Nothing could possibly go wrong with that… _

Let me tell you something before we go on. Family dinners are the best especially, when it is your first dinner with your dad's family.

Right now, I'm sitting beside Tyson opposite of Amphitrite and Triton while Poseidon sat at the head of the table.

We were waiting for dessert when Poseidon said, "Well, isn't this nice? Our whole family having dinner together for the first time."

I knew that he was trying to start a conversation because dinner had been awkwardly silent but somehow I knew that this conversation won't end well.

"Yes, everyone," Amphitrite said bitterly, "Do you have anyone else that you would like to introduce to the family?"

Ouch. That must have hurt.

However, Poseidon seemed unaffected by the comment, "No, I don't." He replied calmly. "We shouldn't discuss the issue right now."

That seemed to make something inside Amphitrite snap. She stood up, "How dare you! You came back from another meeting with your brothers—which lasted for an entire week!—and the only thing on your mind is _him?_"

You don't have to be a genius like Annabeth to figure who Amphitrite is talking about.

It was obviously me.

Amphitrite was getting angrier and angrier every moment, "You should be asking about YOUR family, Poseidon! Not some kid that you had with some woman."

I was about to stand up and defend my mom when Poseidon stood up as well, a fire in his eyes.

"Percy is my son as well; I have every right to about him!"

"What about me? Triton and Tyson? Your REAL sons? Why don't you ask about us?" She snapped back with as much anger as before.

"You know what?" Poseidon said, trying to get the anger out of his voice, "This conversation is ridiculous. This is a special occasion; we shouldn't be fighting over this ridiculous subject."

"Ridiculous! You think that this is ridiculous? I can't believe it!" Amphitrite turned to glare at me, "You! This is entirely your fault!"

"Don't drag Percy into this!" Poseidon growled.

"Why? He's the reason for all the trouble!"

"Trouble-"

"Father! Mother! Stop it!" Triton yelled.

Both of them stopped, looking shocked that Triton was the one who yelled at them.

"Look, Mother! Father is here now. Why don't we just forget about it and enjoy ourselves?" Triton said slowly as if talking to children.

"Triton! Who's side are you on?" Amphitrite shrieked, "That's it! I can't stand being in here!" She stomped off angrily.

Silence filled the dining hall, "I should probably go and check on her." Triton said after a while. "Tyson, come with me."

Tyson who was sitting silently during the argument, looked up, "Me?"

Triton rolled his eyes, "Yes, you! Come on!"

Tyson looked at me as if asking for permission. "Go on, Big Guy." I told him, patting him on the back.

Tyson smiled at me gratefully, he got up and left with Triton.

Poseidon took a deep breathe, "I knew that something like this would happen." He said, rubbing his face tiredly.

I admit I felt bad about the argument. _I _was the reason they were fighting like that but Amphitrite was the one that started the whole thing…

"Don't worry, Dad. Amphitrite won't be mad at you for long." _She probably was doing this to get your attention. _I added to myself.

"You're right." Poseidon said, "I should go and talk to her about this."

"Yeah, you should."

Poseidon looked at me thankfully and said, "You should head to bed, Percy. It's late."

I nodded, but I was not really feeling tired.

"So I'll see you tomorrow then. Good night, Percy."

"Good night, Dad."

I could see a small smile formed on Poseidon's face as I walked out of the dining room.

I lie restless, tossing and turning on my bed. It's been like this for about fifteen minutes. I can't go to sleep, I wasn't tired. Sighing, I sat up, leading my head against the headboard. I reached out to the table beside me and to pour myself a glass of water when my hand rested on something that felt like a piece of paper. _I don't remember putting anything here. _

I reached out blindly, trying to find the lamp. Finally, I found it after almost knocking down the water jug. Switching the lamp on, I picked up the paper and on it written neatly was:

_Dear Percy, _

_You are welcome to use the phone in your room to call your mother anytime_. _You don't have to worry about the costs. Feel free to talk as long as you want._

_Poseidon._

Beside the water jug was a home telephone with a little phonebook next to it. I read the note over again, trying to figure out how Poseidon knew that I wasn't very comfortable to use the phone in the living room to call my mom. I mean I don't want to be eavesdropped on by Triton or worse, Amphitrite. Ironic, isn't it…

Since I'm not in the mood to sleep, I decided to follow Poseidon's advice and call her. I dialed the familiar number and waited for her to pick up.

After a few rings, she picks up, "Hello?" she said in a sleepily voice.

Hearing her voice instantly made me feel better.

"Mom, its Percy."

"Oh, Percy!" Her voice suddenly sounded happier.

"How's San Francisco?" She asked, "How's your new school? Oh, Percy… You have to tell me _everything._" She started asking me endless questions about my first week here at San Francisco: have I made any new friends? Is this school different from my last school? You know how moms are.

I smiled as I answered her questions. It was good to hear her voice after what seemed like an eternity.

We talked for hours about anything and everything. Well, not exactly _everything. _ Ever since the conversation started mom never, I mean, _never _asked me anything about Poseidon and his family. Not once. I mean doesn't she want to know how he's been doing for the last sixteen years? I thought she still cares about him. Then why hasn't she asked about him?

"It's getting late, Dear. I think it's probably best for you to go to bed." My mom said.

I knew she was trying to avoid topics that included Poseidon so I decided to take a risk and blurted out: "I met Poseidon today."

Mom went quiet of a moment, then she spoke in a softer, sadder voice, "Oh, how is he?"

"He's fine. I guess."

"That's good." She replied in the same tone.

"Tyson, my half-brother is nice. He's in the same class as me."

"That's great."

"Mom, are you okay?" I asked her, worried because she's been quiet ever since I talked about Poseidon.

"Yes, Honey, I'm fine. I just need to tell you something…" She said.

"Yeah?"

"I know that living with your father and his family may be difficult for you."

"It's noth-" I tried to tell her, but she cut me off,

"You just have to stay there for only a year and then you can come back to New York…"

"Mom!" I interrupted her, "I'm fine, don't worry about me. I can handle it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Mom I'm sure."

My mom seemed to be loss for words, but then she said, "Well, then you should go to bed now. It's really late. I want you to have enough sleep."

I smiled; at least she was back to normal. "Yeah, Mom, good night."

"Good night, Percy. I love you."

"Love you too, mom."

I hung up the phone, feeling more contented than before. I turned off the lights and snuggled back into bed. My last thoughts were about my mom and how I missed her much more than I would admit.

_Ring!_

I groaned.

_Ring!_

I put my pillow on top of my head to try and block out that annoying sound.

_Ring!_

"Gods!" I blindly reach my hand out, grabbed the clock and threw it somewhere far away.

_Ring!_

"What?" I slowly got up and was about to go stomp on the clock, _Ring!_

I realised that the ringing didn't come from the clock, it came from the phone.

_Who would be calling at this hour? _I thought as I picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Percy! Finally! What took you so long to pick up?" A familiar voice asked with excitement.

"Umm… who are you?" I asked, my brain is still sleepy.

"It's me, Grover! Who do you think?" Came the reply.

_Oh, I don't know. Mr. D maybe? _ I thought but I said, "Oh hey, Grover. How did you get this number anyway?"

"Tyson gave it to me to call him about the project." He explained.

"Oh cool," I yawned. "So you want to talk to Tyson then?"

"No, I wanted to talk you."

"What do you want on a Saturday morning, Grover?" I asked, irritated.

"Well, it's technically almost noon, now…"

"Grover!"

"Okay, Okay! I wanted to invite you to come and hang out with me and other people at Ocean Beach."

It took me a while to understand what he just said.

"You want me to go hang out with who?"

"A couple of people."

"Like?"

"Oh you know, Beckendorf, Silena, Nico, Bianca…Them." Grover said.

"And you want me to hang out with them because?"

Grover sighed, "Percy, come on, it's just hanging out. You get to know them better and make new friends!"

I sighed, I didn't want to go. _They're probably gonna compare me to Triton anyway. So what's the point?_

"They're not going to compare you with Triton." Grover said as if reading my mind.

"How did you know I was thinking about that?" I questioned him, surprised.

I could mentally see him shrugged, "I had a feeling."

"I'm not sure…"

"Come on! They nice people, they won't judge you. You'll have a great time I promise." Grover pressed on.

I sighed, there's no harm in going right?

"Okay, yeah, I'll go."

"Really? Yes!" Grover made a sound which sounded like a bleat, but maybe I was wrong.

"So I'll meet you at Ocean Beach at two o'clock, yeah?"

"Yeah, see you then." I hung up.

Slowly, I went to pick up the clock at was lying on the floor where I had thrown it and saw that it was already noon. I quickly showered and put on my favourite beach wear: my black knee length swimming trunks, a white sleeveless T-shirt with a blue collared short-sleeve shirt over it, and sandals.

Making my way down to have breakfast (or lunch), I found Poseidon already sat down at the dining table. Delphin was standing next to him.

"Ah, Percy. Good morning, or should I say "Good Afternoon." Poseidon chuckled. "You missed breakfast."

I yawned, sitting down grabbing the plate that Delphin held out. "Thanks."

Poseidon asked, "Couldn't sleep?"

I was going to lie and say yes but after last night's conversation with mom, —how she never mentioned Poseidon until I talked about him, how she was nervous when talking about him. Curiosity got the better of me, and I told him about finding his note and talking with my mom. When I finished, Poseidon's expression turned soft and caring. "Well, I'm glad that she's doing well." He fell silent after that, lost in his memories.

I silently ate my food until Poseidon spoke again, "So what are your plans today?"

I swallowed my last bite, "I'm hanging out with Grover at Ocean beach."

Poseidon smiled, "Ah, Ocean beach, the finest beach around. A very popular place for young people to 'hang out.' I hope you have a great time."

Nodding politely, I left the dining hall. When I reached the front door, Delphin was standing beside it as if waiting for me. Shaking my head, "Delphin, I'm going out. Don't worry about me."

Delphin opened his mouth to say something, but then the door swung open. Have I ever mentioned that Annabeth has really, _really _good timing? No? Well, she does.

She was wearing her normal jeans and t-shirt, her blond hair was held in a bandana.

"Oh hey, Percy." She greeted me.

"Hey."

"You are going to Ocean Beach?" She asked, casually.

I was surprised, "How did you know that?"

She rolled her eyes, "Your clothes. You're obviously going to the beach, and the only popular beach around here is Ocean beach. Duh."

"I could be going to the dentist, you know" I replied, lamely.

"Right…"

"Annabeth!" A new voice called from the living room. Triton's.

Annabeth looked at me strangely before yelling, "I'm here!"

She turned to me and said in a lower voice, "I'm heading over there as well so I might see you there." And then she walked passed me towards the living room.

I looked at Delphin who was smiling a bit. "What?"

"Nothing, my lord, have a nice day."

Ocean Beach was full of people. Everywhere I looked people were having fun! You name it; there were young people surfing, skim boarding, playing volleyball, flying kites, sun-bathing, building sand castles, and tons of other stuff! The older people were sitting under umbrellas, reading, or maybe shooting the breeze. I walked past the exciting kids running around flying kites, searching for Grover.

"Percyyyy." A familiar voice called.

I turned around and saw Grover running towards me. "I'm glad you made it." He panted as he reached me.

I smiled. "Wouldn't miss it, G-man."

"Come let's go to the others." Grover led me towards the other end beach where there seemed to be less people. "They're over there." Grover pointed towards a group of people.

A couple of boys were playing volleyball, while two boys were sneaking around drawing on sleeping guy's chest with sun block. I recognised them as Conner and Travis Stoll, the pranksters of our class. The girls were sitting under an umbrella, sipping drinks, and talking to each other.

We got to the volleyball court first; a tall Afro-American jumped up and hit the ball hard, it landed a few feet from Grover. "Hey!" Grover protested.

"Sorry, man." As he ran towards us, I recognised him as Beckendorf.

"Don't worry about it." Grover said picking up the ball, "Percy's here by the way!"

Beckendorf saw me and waved at the others to stop the game, and to come here.

"Hey, Percy." He greeted me with a handshake. "We didn't get to talk much in class, but I hope we get to know each other better."

"Nico, Will, Malcolm, come and meet Percy Jackson." Beckendorf gestured to me.

A guy with brown hair introduced himself as Will Solace. "Nice to meet you." He said.

"Nice to meet you, too."

Will patted a smaller boy with shaggy, black hair, with olive skin and dark eyes. "This is Nico."

Growling Nico pushed Will away, "Hey! I can introduce myself. Thank you very much."

He looked me up and down before saying, "Ignore Will. I'm Nico di Angelo."

"You look familiar," I mused, "Are you in our class?"

Nico snorted, "I wish, it would make things so much easier. My sister, Bianca is in your class. She's over there," He pointed to the group of girls.

Another guy with blond hair came up to me, what startled me were his eyes. They were exactly like Annabeth's.

"Are you Annabeth's brother?" I blurted out,

This made the group laughed including the blond haired guy.

"I'm her cousin, Malcolm. Don't worry. Everyone makes that mistake all the time."

* * *

**I liked this ending. Don't you? **

**Thank you for giving me suggestions on what character you would like to see more in the story :) I promise you all of the characters you suggested will be in the story later on. So be patient!**

**Well, don't forget to review! Ideas are always welcome :) **

**A little question: Would you like Triton to have a happy ending or not? I have both of his 'endings' planned already but I didn't choose which ending I will use yet. I know that it's a long, long way from ending but I just want to know your opinions :)**

**Thanks you again! Love you guys**

**P.S. To Doris, I know I promised to put dolphins in this chapter but if I added it, the chapter would be too long and I liked this ending! So it will be in the next chapter, yeah? I'm soooooo sorry :(**


	8. Chapter Eight

**AN: Hello everyone! Long time no see! I'm back from my 5 weeks vacation (without Internet) in Thailand**. **Although I was cut off from the world, my friends and most of all: fanfiction! I can't say that I didn't enjoy it because I did! I know that some of you might wonder how I can survive without Internet for that long, honestly I didn't think I could...but I did with help from books and TV so here I am :P**

**Now about this chapter: This chapter has been edited by my two awesome beta-readers. Yes, I said two! ComeWriteOutAndSayIt (Chris) and wolfienur (Nurazlin). They have done a fantastic job! You guys are the best! And a big thanks to all you readers, I can't believe that I have this many reviewers! It makes me sooooo happy :)  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians... if I did, I wouldn't be here would I? :P  
**

* * *

**8. I Get A Ride From A Dolphin**

"Now that we've all been introduced," said a smiling Beckendorf. "How about a game of volleyball? My team will take Percy. Nico, you take Grover. Does that sound fair?"

"All right, we'll see who wins this time." Will said, reaching for the ball.

"Are you good at volleyball Percy?" Malcolm asked.

"I know the basics." I said carefully, not wanting to disappoint them.

"Basics, huh? That's good." Beckendorf joined us, huddling like a football team before their next play.

"So, Malcolm," Beckendorf started, "What's the plan?"

* * *

With Malcolm's excellent strategies, we were able to beat the other team. We were celebrating our victory at an open restaurant on the beach.

"That was so unfair!" Nico complained, "I mean, how could you possibly know our next move?"

Malcolm chuckled, "You just analyze each player's moves for every serve or hit they…"

"Okay, okay." Nico cut in. "You made your point. You're smart. Happy?"

That got a laugh got of everyone.

"Well, well. You boys seem to be having fun," a sweet voice said.

We turned to see three girls approaching us. I recongized one of them to be Silena Beauregard—a nice girl, especially considering that she's the school's head cheerleader.

"Oh hey, ladies!" Beckendorf greeted them. "We were just celebrating our victory. Want to join us?"

Silena replied, "Of course, Charlie." She took a seat next to him while the other two sat next to Will and Nico.

Beckendorf blushed at his first name while Nico and Will tried to hide their laughter.

"Nico!" The other girl with silky black hair slapped Nico on the head. She looked familiar, but I couldn't remember her name.

"Hey! What was that for?" Nico protested as he rubbed his head. She ignored him and looked at me. Of course! She was Nico's sister!

"Oh, you're Percy, aren't you?" she asked.

Beckendorf cleared his throat and said, "Girls, I would like you to meet Percy. I'm sure that the girls would like to introduce themselves. I think you already know Silena and Bianca from Latin class, right?"

Silena and Bianca smiled at me. I smiled back.

"And this is Katie Gardner." Silena said, gesturing at the brown haired girl.

"Nice to meet you, Katie," I said to her. Katie smiled.

"Are you staying for the barbeque, Percy?" Bianca asked.

"Barbeque?"

"You didn't tell him about it?" Silena asked Beckendorf.

"I was going to! Then you guys showed up..." He muttered, still blushing from his close proximity to Silena.

"So what's your answer Percy?" Grover asked, looking at me.

"Well…" I trailed off thinking about yesterday's domestic dispute.

Before I could make up my mind, a car roared into the parking lot just beyond the fence.

Triton and Annabeth got out of the car. They were followed by Luke and Ethan.

"I can't believe Annabeth is dating that guy!" Katie whispered, afraid that she would be overheard.

"I know, right? I mean: what does she see in him? Seriously, look at his hair style. Blue highlights? Please, blue is _so _last year's colour." Silena wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Every single guy, including me, shook his head at Silena's comment.

"What?" She asked defensively. "It's true!"

"I doubt that Annabeth is dating Triton for his hair style," Nico commented, earning himself a glare from Silena.

"Maybe she's not." Malcolm said quietly in a serious tone, "Maybe it's because she has to..."

"What are you talking about now, Malcolm?" Will asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

Malcolm realized that he had spoken out loud, coughed and said, "Nothing, nothing at all."

"That would be silly wouldn't it?" Silena said, "Dating someone even though you don't like them?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, and Malcolm's comment was soon forgotten from everyone else's mind. His statement has reminded me of the conversation that I 'overheard' Annabeth and Thalia talking in the library.

_"Why do you care anyway, I thought you wanted to date him because you wanted to ex—"_

That's what Thaila had said before Annabeth interrupted. Was there something else?

"Oh look! Annabeth's coming!" Bianca said.

Sure enough, Annabeth seemed to be gesturing to us while talking to Triton. Triton didn't look happy, even before his eyes landed on me.

Annabeth followed his glaze and saw me. Then she put her hand on his arm and whispered something in his ears.

I don't know why, but that made me feel uncomfortable.

Finally, I could see Triton giving up and nodding. "Whipped." Nico whispered.

Everyone laughed at that.

Before Annabeth walked away, Triton leaned down and kissed her cheek. The girls frowned; the guys rolled their eyes.

"Hey, guys!" Annabeth greeted us as she sat beside Silena. A chorus of 'hi' and 'hey' replied.

"You know, Annabeth, that outfit doesn't flatter you at all. You should come over to Aphrodite's. We'll make you look fabulous!" Silena said, looking Annabeth up and own.

"Thanks, Silena, but I think I look fine like this." Annabeth said, looking annoyed.

Silena mumbled something like "Doesn't appreciate fashion..."

"Where's Thalia?" Katie asked before Silena could get into one of her 'Vanity isn't a sin. I promise,' lectures.

"Thalia's busy with some stuff with her family, so she couldn't come today." Annabeth said.

"Aww, that's a shame. She can't see what we did to Triton's and Luke's cars then." Conner said, walking towards us with Travis following behind him. Both of them were hiding something behind their backs.

"What did you guys do now?" Annabeth said, sighing.

"Nothing much," Connor (or maybe Travis) said. "We just—"

"Gave their cars makeovers." Travis (or Connor) finished, bring out the spraying cans from behind their backs.

"Way to go, dudes!" Nico gave them high-fives. "What colours? How'd you tag them?"

I shook my head; Triton would certainly find a way to blame this on me.

Annabeth must have seen me because she said, "Don't worry, Percy. Triton will know that the Stoll brothers did it."

She gave me a reassuring smile.

Silena looked back and forth between us, and I thought I saw something sparkle in her eyes. It must've been my imagination.

"Hey, guys! We have an idea!" Travis said. Everyone groaned.

"This can't be good." Bianca mumbled.

"Why don't we have a volleyball match? Boys versus girls?" he continued.

"Losers have to do what the other team says. No matter what," Connor finished for his brother.

"Wow. That's actually a good idea!" Annabeth said, surprised.

Travis and Conner fist bumped each other, "Prepare to lose ladies. You don't stand a chance against us mighty men.

Katie shook her head, "That is so sexist."

I couldn't resist and found myself chiming in. "Scared, Annabeth?"

Annabeth looked me straight in the eyes and cracked her knuckles. "Oh, three words. Bring. It. On."

* * *

Despite the Stoll brothers' taunts, Beckendorf's strength, Malcolm's strategies, and Will's, Nico's, and my involvement in the game. We still lost to the girls, and, of course, thanks to Travis's (or Conner's) agreement, we were at their beck and call. You name it: getting drinks, filling them, fanning the girls, and fanning them some more. Definitely not how I wanted to spend my day at the beach. It would have to suffice, though.

While Silena was ordering Beckendorf and the Stoll brothers to fetch more drinks, Annabeth and Malcolm were arguing about the structure of the castle that she ordered Malcolm to build. Bianca was talking to Nico and Will about something. I snuck away quietly to where the rocks jutted into the sea like a pier.

I sat down, staring out at the calm sea. The soft sound of the waves hitting the rocks calmed me. I was at peace there.

After a few minutes the silence was broken by soft footsteps coming from behind me.

I didn't look back. I didn't have to. I knew who it was.

Annabeth sat next to me, the wind blowing her blonde hair.

We sat together in silence until Annabeth spoke.

"Were you trying to escape our deal?"

I laughed.

"What?" She asked,

I continued to laugh until she got annoyed and punched my shoulder.

"Ouch." I stopped laughing and rubbed my shoulder.

"That hurt. Are all girls_ this _violent?" I said as I gestured in her direction.

"Are all boys_ this _weird?" she retorted, motioning to the whole of me.

"Do I have to answer_ that_?"

"Do you actually_ know_ the answer?"

Score one for Annabeth.

Silence passed between us again.

"What are you doing out here anyway?" Annabeth asked breaking the silence once more.

It was my turn to try to win. I never win with this girl. I had to try though.

I turned to her, looked her in the eyes, and prepared to act as philosophic as possible as possible.

"So, Annabeth, you can't enjoy the silence? How does that make you _feel?" _was the best I could come up with. Personally, I think I did fairly well. I think I just might have a future. I could set up shop as a shrink. Hmmmm...

This led to yet another silence—shorter this time.

Eventually, she glared at me, "You're so annoying."

"Well, yes. That has been established."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, "Established? So you're using big words now?"

"I use 'established' every day, mind you."

"I'm sure you do."

I smiled, deciding to answer her question.

"I'm came here because it calms me down, and I feel like I'm home."

"What?"

I sighed, "I'm answering your question. You know, the one you asked?"

"Oh."

"Here I was, I thought you were suppose to be the wise one..."

Annabeth bumped my shoulder, I think she meant it to be playful, but it hurt a bit.

_Click, click, click._

"Do you always like to come to the beach?" I heard Annabeth asking me, but I was too distracted by the clicking noise to respond.

_Click, click, click._

"Percy? Are you listening to me? Percy!"

"Shh, quiet!" I shushed her, "Do you hear that?"

Annabeth looked confused.

"Hear what?"

"The clicking noise."

Annabeth's expression slowly turned serious as she concentrated on trying to hear the noise. Finally, she said in a worried voice, "Its sounds like something is in trouble."

I stood up, "We need to help."

Annabeth stood up as well, "Wait, remember the last time you did that without thinking, you got us in trouble, remember?"

"It's not like we can get into _much_ trouble. We're not at school right now," I said, impatiently, "and besides, what could go wrong this time?"

Annabeth was about to protest when we heard a series of high-pitched clicks and squeaks.

We looked at each other, and an understanding passed between us. We had to go. Time was running out.

The two of us quickly followed the noises. They lead us to an area between a cluster of rocks.

"There's something out there." Annabeth pointed out. Sure enough, there was a bundle of fishing nets in the water caught by the rocks.

"Come on," Annabeth said, "Let's get closer. I think I can see something moving."

A moment ago, she was arguing with me saying that we might get in trouble but now she was taking command. Go figure.

We approached the nets carefully. We didn't want to scare whatever was trapped.

"Oh my gods." Annabeth whispered at the sight before our eyes.

Stuck inside the net was a dolphin that was trying its hardest to wiggle out.

It tried to bite with its mouth, but to no avail, the net was too strong. It started to click and squeak again.

"We got to do something." I said looking at Annabeth for help.

"Thank you, Cap'n Obvious!" She replied back sarcastically, before her expression changed into a thoughtful look. "Hmm, the net is trapped between the rocks so it's difficult to try and pull it out. Maybe if we try cutting it…" She murmured to herself.

"You mean we could cut the net?" I asked,

Annabeth nodded, "That's possible, yes." She looked around, picking up rocks until she found a sharp-looking rock.

"This one would do." She said, handing me the rock. "Now all we have to do is find a way down there…" I wasn't listening to her anymore; I slowly walked to the surf.

"Percy?" Annabeth said, "What are you doing?" Then she realized what I was about to do. She called after me.

"Don't you know how polluted that water is? There are all kinds of toxic—"

That's when I dove in.

I swam quickly towards the dark shape. I wasn't too worried about not enough oxygen because I could hold my breath under water for a very long time, five minutes to be exact. Don't ask me why. I've just always felt good in the water.

Grabbing the net, I tried to wave at the dolphin, but it was too busy trying to escape to take notice. Carefully, but quickly, I sliced through the net with the sharp edge of the rock. With the net cut, I began to guide the dolphin to safety.

The dolphin happily sped out if its imprisonment and nuzzled me with its mouth. Tentatively, I touched its dorsal fin. It bucked a little, inviting me to hold on tighter. I grabbed it with both hands and it took off towards the surface. I broke through the surface of the water and took a deep breath. The dolphin was circling me happily while making clicking and squeaking sounds. I smiled, patting its beak, and swam towards Annabeth. I saw that she was standing with her arms crossed.

"Why don't you ever listen to me?" Annabeth asked as I walked onto the beach.

"Well, I saved him, didn't I?" I said, gesturing at the dolphin that performed a flip and swam to meet to me again.

"It's getting late; we should head back before the others think we're in trouble," Annabeth suggested.

Sure enough, the sun was starting to set, turning the sea green ocean into an orange colour.

"All right, buddy." I told the dolphin, "We have to go now. Don't get stuck in anymore fishing nets."

The dolphin gave a click then a very loud squeak, and then it swam away happily.

"I think that meant 'thank you' in dolphin language." I told Annabeth.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Come on _Seaweed Brain, _let's go before you freeze to death."

"Wait, what did you just call me?"

Annabeth turned around and gave me a playful smirk.

I groaned, following her. _Great, just great._

When we got back, nobody asked us where we'd been. All we'd gotten was a knowing look from Silena as we sat down around the glowing fire. Beckendorf handed both of us a plate of barbeque and a can of Coke.

"So how about—" Travis announced standing up.

"Our awesome new friend, Percy!" Conner continued.

"Welcome, to the coolest group of people you'll ever meet!" Travis finished.

Bianca didn't miss a beat.

"Travis? Connor? Cool?" she added, and everyone laughed.

"Well, if we're not cool...You're not cool either!" was Travis's lame attempt at a comeback.

"Can we roast marshmallows already!" Katie said, "Then you guys can fight all you want."

"Welcome to the group, Percy." Beckendorf said, smiling at me.

I'm not sure I'd ever felt as contented as I did at that moment. I'd finally found a place that I can fit in. _This year might not be bad at all.

* * *

_

Monday came by again, but this time I didn't feel awkward. Walking with Grover down the halls, we passed by Bianca and Silena who greeted us with smiles. Beckendorf and Will nodded as we passed.

Conner and Travis were lurking around outside Mr. D's office when we passed them.

"What are you guys up to now?" I asked them.

"We're gonna give Mr. D a little present." Travis grinned, holding up a wine bottle.

"You know that Mr. D likes wine right? But since he is the school grounds supervisor, he's not allowed to have some while on the job."

"So you're gonna give him wine?" I asked, "So what's the prank than?"

Grover, Travis, and Connor all shook their heads, "Percy, Percy, Percy... You still have a lot to learn." Connor mused.

"It's not actually wine, is it?"

Their grins became wider.

I shook my head, "Good luck, guys. I'm outta here!"

Grover followed me, "Me too! I don't want to be on Mr. D's bad side."

Travis called after us, "You guys are no fun!"

Lunch finally came around. I found myself sitting with Grover, Beckendorf, Will, Malcom, and Nico.

"Ready for volleyball today?" Will said,

"We are so getting the girls back." Beckendorf added,

"Well, I'm sorry to say this but we're not having volleyball today." Annabeth said appearing next to Beckendorf.

"Wait, what?" I asked, surprised.

"Haven't you heard? We have a new PE teacher."

"Aww, why? I liked Mr. Barnsley ." Nico commented playing with his food.

Bianca came behind Nico and slapped his hand, "Want more bad news? We're playing dodgeball."

"What? Dodgeball? I hate dodgeball." I groaned.

"Oh, stop being a baby. You just hate dodgeball because you probably suck at it." Thalia said, smirking beside Annabeth.

I growled, "We'll see."

The bell rung. It was time for PE

* * *

"Shut up!" The new PE teacher roared over the chattering noise of the class. He broke up a couple of kids' conversation. "Don't let me tell you again," he growled at them.

"All right, listen up, punks." He snarled, his scarred face looked cruel and brutal.

"I'm Ares, your new PE teacher. And I only have one rule," He pointed his finger to each and every one of us. "No Pain, No Game."

A group of tough looking guys and girls roared in agreement.

"I will not tolerate pathetic excuses about not being able to do PE." He looked at Grover through his red shades.

"I will not tolerate any rebellion." He moved his gaze to Thalia then to me. His gaze seemed to be on me longer.

He clapped his large hands together. "Today, we're going to play extreme dodgeball."

He bounced the ball. "You can hit anywhere on the body." He caught the ball. "Anywhere." He threw the ball hard, at an off-guard boy on the head. The boy slumped to the ground. His friend knelt down to feel his forehead, "He's out cold."

"Isn't this some kind of assault?" Annabeth asked, "I'm sure it's against school protocol."

"School protocol?" Ares laughed, "We're playing dodge ball. What does the school protocol have to do with this?"

Annabeth looked insulted but said nothing.

"I like you, girl." Ares said, "You're team captain."

"Clarisse!" A tough looking girl with brown hair stepped forward. "You're the other team captain. Choose your teams and start playing!"

I was on Annabeth's team which consisted of most of our friends: Beckendorf, Silena, Will, Malcolm, Katie, the Stoll brothers, Thalia, and a couple of not-so-tough classmates.

As soon as Ares blew the whistle, the gym became a battlefield. Dodge balls were flying back and forth between the two sides. Thalia and Annabeth managed to take out most of Clarisse's side but Clarisse and her 'thugs' took most of our team also. Although Beckendorf and Malcolm were good, they were taken out by a series of balls thrown by Clarisse's 'thugs'.

So now it was only me, Thalia and Annabeth against Clarisse and three of her friends.

Awesome right? Wrong.

Thalia managed to take out all of Clarisse's friends but sacrificed herself in the process.

She stormed out murmuring something along the lines of: "I'll get her next time."

"Percy! I have a plan." Annabeth panted next to me as she ducked Clarisse's ball.

"And that is?" I asked hurling my ball towards Clarisse who easily sidestepped it.

"You distracted her while I attack her." She said, avoiding another ball.

"How do I do that?"

She threw me her ball, "Use your brains." And with that she went, running around the gym, grabbing scattered balls and throwing some at Clarisse. Our plan was working perfectly fine for about five minutes until Clarisse decided to play mean. She managed to avoid all the balls we threw at her and now there were no more balls on our side. She gave us an evil smirk as she grabbed two balls from the floor. "What's the plan now?" I asked, breathlessly as I stood beside Annabeth. Both of us stood defenseless against Clarisse.

"When she throws the ball, you catch it and do a jump-throw." Annabeth ordered me, "If you miss, I'll cover it."

I nodded, agreeing to her plan right away.

As Clarisse threw her first ball, things went into slow motion. I clearly saw where the ball was going to hit so I pushed myself in front of the ball's path and caught it.

"Now, Percy!" Annabeth yelled.

I ran forward as fast as my aching legs could take me and when I was at the boundary line, I jumped forward, throwing the ball as hard as I could towards Clarisse.

She looked up in surprise and tried to block it with the ball in her hands but it was too late. My ball caught her right in the stomach.

I landed on the gym floor as Clarisse fell flat on her back. Our team erupted in cheers, but before anyone could congratulate me and Annabeth, Ares blew his whistle.

"Clarisse's team wins!" he announced.

"What!" I asked him, "We won fair and square didn't you see that hit?"

"Yes, kid. I saw that but you crossed the boundary line so your team is disqualified," Ares growled.

"What kind of rule is that? You can do a jump-throw," I argued, getting angry. I don't know why but this guy made me want to punch something.

"Listen, kid." He lowered his face towards mine, "When I say that your team loses, your team loses okay? If you don't want trouble, keep it that way."

I growled and was about to say something rude when Annabeth pulled me away from Ares.

"Don't." She whispered, "He's just trying to get you into trouble."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ares walk up to Clarisse and say something to her.

When he walked away, I could see that Clarisse was scowling at me and mouthed, "You are so dead."

* * *

**So what you do think? Review! Consider it a welcoming present for me :P **

**Not to worry, the next chapter will be up before you know it! Now I have to go catch up on the things I missed. Thank you for reading!  
**


	9. Chapter Nine

**Hey, guys! Here's another chapter for you guys! I know that some of you guys think that the pace of this story is slow but I planned that the first half of the story (about 10 chapters) are going to be about Percy adjusting to his new family but the second half would be about Percy and Annabeth and troubles that will come in their way *hint* *hint***

**Love you guys so much and thank you for all the reviews you gave me, it really made my day :P**

**This chapter had been edited by the amazing wolfienur! Thank you for editing my story and teaching me how to improve my English along the way :P Love ya! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians :(**

**

* * *

9. I become famous, sort of.**

The next day, word about the dodge ball game had spread throughout the school. Everywhere I went, people would just stare and whisper about what had happened. In a way I had become famous . Well, more like _in_famous. I had no way of knowing this, but apparently, embarrassing Clarisse in front of the whole class was _not _recommended. I was sure right then, that Clarisse was probably thinking up ways to get back at me and make my life hell. At lunch, while me and Grover were talking as usual, Luke came up to me and slapped my back, "Hey, how's the little 'hero' doing? Still alive? I see Clarisse hasn't dealt with you yet, then."

Ethan leaned down and whispered in my ear, "If you're scared, you could always ask your big brother for help."

I growled at the two of them, "I can handle Clarisse myself."

"Pretty confident aren't we? I knew I liked you for a reason." Luke sneered.

"Come on, Luke, let's leave Percy so that he can have a peaceful lunch. Next time things _might _be a little different," Ethan scoffed as he walked away.

I turned to Grover who was sitting opposite from me, "Peaceful lunch? Things might be different next time? What are they talking about?"

Grover took a bite from his apple, "Oh I don't know, Percy. It probably has something to do with the fact that you've in a week than anyone's ever made in their entire high school life."

"That's not true," I protested.

"Really? Let's see: Triton, Luke, Ethan, Clarisse and her ugly, big friends…"

"Okay, fine! You've proved your point, but so what? Everyone has enemies in school."

"Yes, but you've made enemies with the wrong kind of people, if you understand what I mean."

"No, I don't understand what you mean."

"What doesn't Seaweed Brain understand?" Annabeth asked as she and Thalia sat down at our table.

"Will you stop with the ridiculous nickname already?" I said, annoyed that I couldn't think of any good comebacks.

"Why? I think it suits you very well." Annabeth smirked.

Thalia watched our little exchange closely. Well, she watched _me_ closely.

Things between me and Thalia had seemed to cool down after our 'little library' incident. When I say cool down, I mean not trying to kill each other every time we get into a 'friendly debate'. She still accused me of eavesdropping on her and Annabeth's conversation. Accusations which I denied, of course. I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Grover nodded to the newcomers before saying, "I was just telling Percy that he made some dangerous enemies."

"What's not to understand about that?"

"That's not what he said last time," I told Annabeth. Then I turned to Grover, "That's not what you said before."

Grover shrugged as he continued to munch on his fruits.

"You know what, let's talk about something other than PE class or making enemies." I said, suggested, changing the subject.

"That's a really great idea, Percy. Smartest thing you've ever said" Thalia rolled her eyes.

"Wait! Did I tell you what I heard about Ares?" Grover piped up.

I sighed in exasperation, "What now?"

"I heard from other students that whenever someone disobeys he orders, he'd punish them by giving them a one whole month of detention plus they'd have to do twenty laps during each PE class."

"What's that got to do with me?" I asked, not really caring what the answer was.

"You always surprise me with your thick skull, Percy." Annabeth said, shaking her head.

"What?"

"It affects you because everyone thinks that it's your fault that Ares is acting like this," she explained.

"It isn't my fault! What Ares did to me, to us, was wrong."

"Well too bad because everyone's gonna stay away from you now, afraid that if they're seen with you, Clarisse or Ares might give 'em a hard time."

"That's stupid."

"Wow, and you just noticed that? You really are slow," Thalia teased.

I scowled at her, "Shut up, Thalia."

"You know, if you keep ticking people aren't just going to stay away from you, they'll hate you and maybe start allying themselves with Triton or Clarisse. Who knows what could happen then," Grover said, concerned.

"That'd be the most exciting thing that's ever happened at this Podunk school,"

Thalia clapped her hands together, excited.

"People already distrust me just for being Triton's half-brother, so I don't think it will make any difference if I made more enemies," I said, trying to end the conversation.

"Aw, poor Percy. Nobody wants to be your friend anymore." Thalia said, her voice dripping with fake pity.

I glared at her, "Well, I wouldn't worry about that. I have Grover here to back me up." I leaned over and punched Grover in his shoulder playfully.

"Ouch," Grover rubbed his shoulder, "I mean, yes I'm right behind you, Percy."

I gave him a grateful look. I turned to Thalia, to bask in my tiny victory, but she wasn't even paying attention. She and Annabeth were staring at something on the other side of the cafeteria. I followed their gazes and saw that they were staring at some_one. _Luke.

He was sitting at the jocks' table with Ethan and a bunch of others guys that could be easily mistaken for Clarisse's brothers because they all had this tough, and brutal look. Luke seemed different than when he had taunted me at the table a few minutes ago. Sitting at the head of the table with those guys sitting around him, he had this glow that made him looks somewhat sinister. More so than Triton, if that's possible. As if he sensed us were staring at him, Luke looked in our direction. His gaze appeared to be fixed on Thalia and Annabeth. As soon as Thalia noticed Luke's stare, she immediately turned away looking angry and frustrated. When she caught my questioning eyes, she snapped. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing."

Thalia didn't look convinced but she let it go. Annabeth looked as troubled Thalia did.

I nudged Grover, who was nervously fiddling with his plate, "What's the deal with them," I gestured at Thalia and Annabeth, "and Luke?"

Grover took a quick glance at Annabeth and Thalia, who were both lost in their own world, before turning to me and whispered, "I'll tell you later."

"Tell Percy what later?" Annabeth asked, startling both Grover and me.

"Not…Nothing…" Grover stammered.

Annabeth raised her eyebrow, "Then why are you guys whispering?"

"Well, you see…" I searched my brain trying to think of something to say that wouldn't sound stupid. "I was just asking Grover about…Pan."

Grover seemed to brighten at Pan's name. "Oh, yes," he agreed enthusiastically.

"Pan is encouraging people in the nearby areas to recycle their trash—"

"You were going to me that later." I interrupted him, giving him a shut-up-now-or-we're-dead look.

"But I don't want to bore you girls, so that's why I was going to tell Percy later on." Grover finished, nervously.

Annabeth nodded, but not before eyeing us suspiciously.

I sighed in relief. That was close. But deep down, I had a feeling that Annabeth knew what I was asking Grover.

Suddenly, Grover stood up, knocking his glass of water down, causing it to spill all over the table.

"Whoa, what's up man?" I asked him, surprised at his urgency.

"I totally forgot!" Grover exclaimed, "I was supposed to meet Tyson right now for our Latin project! I'll see you guys later!" He quickly headed towards the exit.

"Okay… see you…" I trailed off.

"Speaking of Latin project…" Annabeth said. "We should get together one last time."

"Why?" I whined, "I thought we finish it like, a long time ago."

"We did, but don't you want to make sure that everything is perfect?"

I was about to say, "Not really." But I didn't think that Annabeth would appreciate that so I said, "Um…sure."

Annabeth sighed, "You're hopeless, you know that right?"

"Yes, I know." I smirked, "We could meet after school today. I'm free."

"Well, I'm not." Annabeth said, "Why don't meet tomorrow after school at your house?"

"My house?" I asked, "Why do you want to meet at my house?"

"Yes, Annabeth, why do you want to go to Percy's house?" Thalia demanded suddenly. She was quiet for such a long time that I'd forgotten she was there.

I looked at Thalia in shock. This was the first time that we'd ever agreed on something. Not that Thalia noticed. She was too focused on Annabeth.

"Triton invited me to have dinner at his house. Didn't I tell you?" Annabeth said, more to Thalia than to me.

"No, you didn't tell me." Thalia growled.

"Look Thalia, it's just dinner. I've dinner at his house before so why should this be any different?" Annabeth asked, her face showing concern for her friend.

I was asking the same question in my head. Why was it such a big deal to Thalia?

"It's just that…never mind." Thalia shook her head, "I gotta go. I've got stuff to do..." Thalia gathered her stuff and quickly walked away.

"Thalia!" Annabeth called after her, "Thalia, wait!"

But she was already gone.

"Well, aren't you going after her?" I asked Annabeth.

She shook her head, "It's best to leave her alone for now."

"Right."

Annabeth cleared throat, "So tomorrow after school, we meet at your house."

I nodded, "Yeah, okay. But make sure that you tell Triton about this, okay?"

Before Annabeth could say anything I continued on, "It's not like I'm afraid of him or anything. It's just that I don't want him to have any excuses to get me into trouble. Amphitrite really wants a reason to get rid of me, so I just want to be careful."

"Careful?" Annabeth said, feigning surprise, "You want to be careful?"

I scowled at her, "Just tell him."

"All right, I will." Annabeth said, "You worry too much, you know. Nothing bad is going to happen. Not while you're with me, anyway."

After school ended, Annabeth insisted that I go back to the mansion rather than wait for her at school. She said that she had 'unfinished' business to take care of. Instead of being bored to death, doing nothing, I decided to do something useful (not something that I do often). So there I was, in the stable, grooming Blackjack— a pitch-black stallion— waiting. How long did Annabeth need to do this 'unfinished' business of hers anyway?

Blackjack nudged me softly with his wet nose, probably asking for more sugar cubes.

"I think you've had enough sugar cubes for one day, Blackjack," I said, brushing his black mane.

Blackjack gave an unsatisfied neigh and continued to nudge me.

"All right, all right. I give up." I said, handing him a handful of sugar cubes. "Now you can stop annoying me now," I patted his snout.

After a little while, Blackjack pushed me again. "What now?" I asked him.

He whinnied and trotted around his pen. "Whoa, what is it Blackjack?" I tried to calm him down but he continued to whinny, nodding his head towards the saddle hanging from the wall.

"You want to go out for a ride, eh?"

Blackjack nodded his head as if in agreement.

I stroked his head gently, "You know that I'd love to, but I just don't have the time."

He whinnied again, "Now?" I asked.

Blackjack shuffled around expectantly. I looked around, "I don't think that's a good idea. Annabeth might be arriving any moment now and I don't want her to get mad."

Annabeth's voice called, "Percy?" Speak of the devil.

I jumped in surprise and turned around to see Annabeth walking towards me.

"An-Annabeth," I stammered, afraid that she'd overheard me.

"There you are! I've been looking for you all over!" Annabeth said. "Come on, we haven't got all day."

"All right, give me a sec to clean up," I said, putting away the brush, "How did you find me anyway?"

"I asked Delphin."

"Delphin? But I didn't tell him I was here. I didn't tell anyone."

Annabeth gave me a sly smile, "Delphin knows everything about everyone in this mansion. That's his job. No one does anything without him knowing."

"That's a happy thought. All right, let's go." And with a last pat on Blackjack's snout, Annabeth and I left the stable.

"So where do you want to work?" I asked once we were inside the mansion.

"How about your room?" Annabeth said.

I coughed, "My room? Are you serious?"

"Yeah, why not? It's the perfect place. All quiet and isolated."

"Sure, whatever you say." I said, then I realised that she'd just called my room isolated. "Hey! My room is not isolated!" I protested.

"Sure, whatever you say, Percy." Annabeth replied, using my comeback. "Now are you coming or not?" She started up the stairs. I mumbled something like, "Right behind you." When I was halfway up the stairs I heard Triton's voice called out, "Delphin!"

I tried to ignore his voice and continue walking, but Triton's next words made me stop dead in my tracks.

"A few of my friends will be coming over today, so make sure you prepare enough food for them." Triton ordered.

But, sir, today is a school day." Delphin stated.

Instead of snapping at him, Triton simply said, "Don't worry about it, Delphin. It's a little surprise for Percy." I could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

Annabeth called, "Seaweed Brain! What are you doing?"

So I hastily made my way to the second floor and found Annabeth waiting impatiently in front of my room.

"How long does it take you to climb up the stairs?" Annabeth asked, jokingly.

But when she saw my face, hers turned serious, "What's up?"

"Nothing, let's just look over the project." I said as I pushed pass her into my room, trying not to worry about what Triton had said.

Annabeth looked at me warily, but didn't say anything as she pulled out a stack of papers and her laptop from her bag.

"All right then, let's get started…"

We went over everything from the report to the presentation for like, five times but of course each time, Annabeth managed to find mistakes had to be 'corrected immediately'. So it took us about an hour to make everything Annabeth-approved.

And all that time, the thought of Triton's words swam around in my head. No matter how hard I tried to push it out of my mind, it kept coming back.

"Finally," I said, as I lay down on my bed. "I can't believe it took us that long to look over two things."

"I just want everything to be absolutely perfect for Friday's presentation. I mean, it's a trip to the Metropolitan Museum!" Annabeth said,

"You can go to the Met any time you want, why bother?" I asked.

"_You_ can go to the Met any time you want because you live in New York, but I can't," Annabeth retorted, "I don't get the chance to travel anywhere often, so this is kind of a getaway trip for me."

"Why you don't travel often?" I asked, sitting up. "I thought people liked you like to travel and stuff."

I sensed that I'd passed into a sensitive area because Annabeth tensed, "I've got my reasons," she said, flatly.

There was an awkward silence until Annabeth stood up and said, "I'm giving you the report. I trust you to keep it safe until Friday." She put the papers on my desk. "It's the easiest part of this project so it shouldn't be any problem," she continued.

"Trust me. I'll do my best to take care of the report."

"Now that's done," Annabeth walked towards the door, "let's get dinner."

"Dinner?" I stood up as well. "I'm not hungry," I said, the thought of Triton's 'surprise' now fully occupying my mind.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "You're a really bad liar. Your stomach's been growling since we started."

My face flushed with embarrassment. "Um…"

"Seriously what's going on, Percy? You've been acting weird all afternoon."

"It's nothing," I said, quickly. "Look, why don't you go ahead. I'm…" I looked at the report, "I'm going to put the report in a safe place."

"This is ridiculous!" Annabeth stomped her foot, "Look, it's dinner. There's nothing to be afraid of!" She gripped my arm and pulled me out of my room.

"Hey!" I protested, trying to pull back but (I'm embarrassed to say this) Annabeth had a really strong grip. I had no choice but to follow her downstairs.

"Really, Percy. You're acting childish. There's –" Annabeth stopped abruptly and stared at something in the room.

"There's what?" I asked, looking over her shoulder.

What I saw sent shivers down my spine. Triton, Luke and Ethan were sitting at the dining table, talking intently to each other.

When Triton saw me and Annabeth, he gave us a friendly smile that made my blood run cold and said "Why, if it isn't Percy and Annabeth. We were just talking about you. Care to join us?"

* * *

**Hehe, I just love cliff-hangers don't you?**

**Leave me a review! :P **

**P.S. Does anyone here watch Friends? My friends introduced it to me a couple of months ago now I'm totally obsessed with it! So in future chapters if you see any jokes or reference to Friends, don't be surprised :P**


	10. Chapter Ten

**AN: Wow, it's been over a month... Okay, I have the usual for not updating (school, homework, TV shows, tons of books that you haven't read that you promise yourself you would read but still haven't (does that make sense?)) so you are allow to throw stuff at me but I must warn you, I have very good reflexes :P**

**Anyway, on to this chapter: Like I said before the first half of this chapter would be about Percy dealing with his family issues so please don't be discouraged if there are no Percy/Annabeth moments yet, I promise you that the second half of the story (which would be the next chapter. YAY!) will mainly focus on Percy and Annabeth :)**

**Both of my betas are very busy at this time of year so this chapter wasn't editted... Well, I edit it but yeah... So sorry in advance for any mistakes.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**

* * *

10. Triton's deadly surprise.**

Triton held out his hand, gesturing us to join them. "Come on," urged Triton, "We aren't going to cause any problems." He continued. _Yeah, like anyone would believe that. _I thought sourly.

"No thanks." I said, "You guys wouldn't want us to ruin your fun, would you?"

Before Triton could reply, Annabeth asked, "What is going on here?" Then she looked at Luke and Ethan, "What are _they _doing here." She asked acidly.

"Is this how you treat your old friend?" Luke answered, smiling at her.

Annabeth didn't return the smile, "I wasn't asking you." She snapped, clearly angry.

Triton stood up and came to us, "Whoa, Annabeth calm down. Like I said, we aren't here to cause trouble." He looked back at Luke and Ethan. "I invited them so we can have dinner together. We haven't hung out together before so I thought this might be a good idea." I clenched my fist. What a liar. Is this some kind of plan to get to me? If it is, it's not working very well.

"How thoughtful of you." Annabeth said as she continued to glare at Luke and Ethan. When she didn't make any attempt to move, Triton turned his attention to me. "We got off the wrong foot when we first met." He said, "But after the big argument between our parents and all the other disagreement that you and I have, I realised something very important."

"What are you talking about Triton?" I asked, annoyed and curious at the same time.

"The reason that I invited Luke and Triton here today," Triton said, ignoring my question. "Is because I want us to clear all the disagreements that we have with one another. Sort of like making peace with each other."

Okay, I wasn't expecting from Triton. Making Peace? What on earth is he talking about? I looked at Annabeth; I could see that she was also confused by what Triton is saying. I have only known Triton for a short time but I know that he is definitely not the kind of person that would make peace with anyone especially me. I doubt that he even say sorry when he stepped on someone's foot.

"I think that you are out of your mind," I finally said, "Even though I have known you for a short time, I know that you are not a person that would talk to solve problems."

Triton looked offended, "Percy, my brother, I know that I have done a lot of awful things to you—"

I scoffed.

"But I want you and Annabeth to give me, Luke and Ethan a chance to explain so we can all end this hatred once and for all." Triton said.

I think that he should really be in the show business. His acting is brilliant. In fact, if I haven't known him well (or as much as I could in two weeks time) I would actually believe him. Unfortunately, I know him, don't ask me how, maybe it's some kind of instinct or brotherly bond or something but I know that Triton is faking the whole thing.

Lucky for me, Annabeth was thinking the same, "Triton, what is this really about?" she demanded, "I know you. You are not a kind of person who is eager to make peace with anyone."

Triton gave her a reassuring smile, "Oh Annabeth, you don't know how eager I am."

She looked at him confused, an expression that Annabeth rarely has.

"Lately, I seen you and Thalia having trouble with Luke and Ethan here," he nodded in their direction. "So I thought that you guys could, you know, clear up all the misunderstandings that you have with me, Luke and Ethan."

Triton's words seemed to have hit Annabeth in the nerves because she seemed very tense. Her fists were clenched at her sides; her eyes were locked on Triton.

"If you really want that," She said, "Then why didn't you invite Thalia along? I think that she would really enjoy this reunion."

_Yes, she would really enjoy beating up everyone here. _I thought dryly.

Luke who had been strangely quiet for a while spoke up, "We tried, but Thalia didn't want to talk us. She would yell at us every time we went near her. We never got the chance to even say a sentence to her before she stomped off."

"Gee, I wonder why? Oh, I remember, you betrayed us." Annabeth said sharply. "Do you have any idea how badly you hurt Thalia? She was really hurt by what you did." Then she added in a softer voice, "So was I."

Luke stood up, "That is why I want you to give me a chance to explain!" he said, looking at Annabeth.

"You had your chance but you blew it."

Luke took a quick glance at Triton, "Look, I had my reasons for why I did it okay?"

"Oh yeah," Annabeth cut in, "And what are the reasons?"

Luke growled, "I don't need to tell you that."

"Then we have nothing to talk about." Annabeth said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"See, that your problem, Annabeth, you think you know everything but you don't!" Luke snapped.

"Why you –" Annabeth made an attempted to move towards Luke. I had put my hand on her arm to stop and calm her down. This argument between Annabeth and Thalia with Luke is bigger than I thought. I must talk with Grover as soon as possible about this.

"Now, now." Triton said as he moved to stand in front of us. "Let's not fight," he glared at Luke, "We're here to clear the misunderstandings, not make more of them."

Luke returned Triton's gaze and slowly sat back down. Annabeth took a deep breathe to calm herself. She took my hand off her arm and nodded to me, telling me that she was alright.

Triton put a hand on my shoulder, "Come, Percy, sit down. We have problems to clear between ourselves as well."

I shrugged his hand off violently. "What problems? I don't have any thing to clear with you." That was a lie, of course. All the problems I have since I arrived here all seemed to be connected with Triton one way or another.

"Don't fool yourself, you know what I am talking about."

"Nope, not at all."

"Then let me give you a clue. It's something that we have differently."

When I said nothing, he continued, "You have problems with my mother."

"So? I can't just go up to her and say 'Let's talk about our problems and try and find a way to clear it all up' now can I?"

"Hmm." Triton put one hand under his chin, pretending to think the problem over. "Why don't we clear your problem with my mother right now?"

I laughed, "Are you out of your mind, Triton? Amphitrite won't give me any chance to explain and I'm not really eager to 'make peace' with her."

Triton ignored me and turned to face Annabeth who was still standing at the same spot, glaring at Luke and Ethan.

"Why don't you enjoy yourself Annabeth." He smiled at her. "I need to talk to Percy privately."

"Whoa, who said I'm going with you." I protested. I'm not going to leave Annabeth alone with Luke and Ethan. Not that I'm afraid for her but I'm afraid for Luke and Ethan instead. I'm sure that Annabeth would surely slice them to pieces if she could.

"Go with Triton, Percy." Annabeth said, "I'll be fine here."

"What? But –"

"Go." Annabeth gave me her signature glare telling me not to argue with her.

"You heard what she said. She'll be fine. Let's go." Triton grabbed me roughly by the arm and pulled me towards the stairs.

"Hey!" I took a last look at Annabeth before unwilling following Triton.

When we got to the foot of the stairs, I managed to pull my arm away from Triton. I pushed him away from me, "Dude! What do you think you're doing?"

Triton answered innocently, "Taking you to Mother of course."

I admitted I was surprise when he said that, "Amphitrite? Oh, you're planning to take me to her so she could bit my head off? Sorry, but I'm not falling for that."

Triton pretended to brush invisible dust off his shoulders and said, "Why would I do that? But I have to admit that is a good plan, leading you directly to Mother."

"Then why are you taking me to Amphitrite?"

Triton gave me an I-know-something-that-you-don't look, "Amphitrite wants to see you personally."

Anxiety crept up my spine, "What?"

"Just follow me." Triton started up the stairs. For a second time today, I had a feeling that gives me the shivers. _Well, if Amphitrite really wants to see me, then I'll go but only to end this stupid disagreement._ Then another thought came to my mind, _Gods, I'm starting to sound like Triton._

Unwillingly I trudged upstairs, following Triton. As soon as I caught up with him, he smirked at me, "Worried?"

I snorted, "No, not at all."

"I would be if I were you."

I stopped and looked at him, "So you are admitting that there's something going on."

Triton shrugged but didn't stop walking, "I'm not admitting anything. I'm just saying what's on my mind."

"Whatever, lets just get this over with." I continued up the stairs to the third floor.

Now before we go on, I just want you to know something about Poseidon and Amphitrite's private floor. It's nothing like the second floor; the deep blue carpet that covered the floor seemed more posh. Marble statues of horses and mermaids (or merman) lined up the hall. The walls were decorated with paintings of sea animals of every kind but the picture that really caught my eyes was the picture of the Atlantis family: Poseidon with his dark blue suit, Amphitrite with her flowing green dress, her arms were around Triton who was wearing a black suit that made him look like an evil surfer dude. All of them were smiling. They look like a happy family. A lump formed in my throat. Maybe Triton was right, _I _was the reason for Poseidon and Amphitrite's arguments. If I hadn't come here, would they be arguing? Probably not. Amphitrite wouldn't know that her husband had an affair with another woman and had a child with her. She and Triton wouldn't know that I even exist. I would just be a normal kid living in New York with my mom instead of living with the Atlantis, being Amphitrite's step-son, or worst being Triton Atlantis's half-brother. Would my life be better if I hadn't given in to my mom's wish?

Triton cleared his throat, breaking me out of my thoughts. He was standing in front of a big wooden door with a trident embedded on the frame.

"We're here." Triton announced, "The master bedroom."

He touched the doorknob, preparing to open the door.

"Aren't you going to knock first?" I asked, standing behind him.

Triton looked at me as if I was going crazy then pushed the door open without any thought.

Note to myself: Don't ask Triton any simple questions; he doesn't seem to understand them.

He held the door and waved at me to go in first. "Wouldn't want to keep her waiting would you?"

Bracing myself for the worst, I took a deep breath and went inside.

Stepping inside I felt as if I was entering into another world. The master bedroom was a majestic place befitting for Poseidon and Amphitrite being the master/mistress of the house and all. The heavy drapes on the ten-foot-tall windows hung opened slightly, forming slits, letting light into the room making lamps unnecessary. On the glossy, mahogany table to the side sat a silver tray with tea, soup, biscuits and all kind of fruits. None of it had been touched. The sight reminded me that I hadn't eaten anything yet. I had lost my appetite since Triton said that he had a little surprise for me.

Standing against the far paneled wall, was the huge bed, its four great dark polished posts rising up like columns in front of a palace. The thick, embroidered bedcover cascaded down the sides of the bed like a colourful waterfall frozen in place. A slash of sunlight cut across the dark carpet and the lower part of the bed.

I know that I shouldn't be surprised at this but I still make myself believe that I would be living in one of the richest man in United States. It was too much.

I looked around trying to find Amphitrite. If she were here right now, she would already bite my head off right now.

"So where is she?" I asked.

Triton didn't answer. I turned to look at him but was surprised to find him on the floor, kneeling.

"Where is it?" he mumbled to himself. "I swear it was in here."

"Triton?"

"Yes, I've found it!" Triton exclaimed, reaching under the bed. He stood up holding something that looked vague familiar. It was something I've seen before. Then it hit me: it was one of those horns thingy. A crouch horn.

Why would Triton's crouch horn be in Poseidon and Amphitrite's bedroom? But the bigger question is: why would he even have a crouch horn?

Triton turned to me and gave me his signature smirk. Then something occurred to me. Something very bad.

"Amphitrite didn't really ask me to see her personally did she?" I asked.

Triton chuckled, "Well, my brother isn't dumb as he looks."

I gritted my teeth, "What do you want?"

"Don't worry Percy. No one would get hurt. Well, not physically anyway."

He walked around me as a hawk would circle around its prey. "I just want to make sure that you wouldn't cause any more trouble than you already have." He stopped and looked me straight in the eye.

"I knew it. That 'peace making' speech downstairs was really fake." I said, "You can't really fool anyone with that speech. Not me or Annabeth."

"It doesn't really matter. I just want to give Annabeth something to think about while I get you alone."

"What I still can't believe is that you came up with this whole thing yourself." I said trying to distract Triton a little longer. I knew that I couldn't just bolt to the door and go out just like that. I had to find another way out.

"Are you surprised that you have a smart brother like me?" He grinned as he said it.

I let out a bitter laugh, "You? Smart? Even a dolphin is smarter than you."

He growled, "If you are smarter than me you wouldn't be here either." He walked towards one of the shelf that was filled with antique looking stuff. "But if you must know it was Luke who came up with the whole 'peace making' part. Since he known Annabeth the longest, I trust him to come up with something to occupy her mind while I talk to you." He touched a small statue, examining it carefully.

I made a split decision; I rushed to the door, pulling it open. But before I could go any further, Triton grabbed me by the collar and tried to pull me back in. "Not so fast." I reached back, gripped his hands and attempted to drag him out as well.

Triton wouldn't give up and tighten his hold around me. We struggled for a few seconds before Poseidon's voice boomed from the hall, "Where are they?"

That took me off guard, I lost my balance and Triton was able to pull me back in the room. He closed the door as quietly as possible and turned to grin at me.

"Just in time."

"What –" Before I could finish the sentence Triton grabbed the statue that he previously held and threw it onto the floor. It fell onto the floor, breaking into pieces, glass were shattered all around the room.

"What was that?" Came a voice outside the room. It was Amphitrite. "It came from our bedroom." Another voice said. I also knew whose voice that is. It was Poseidon.

Triton rubbed his hands together and said, "Show time."

The door burst opened, Poseidon and Amphitrite came in. They looked at us then at the pieces of the statue.

"What in the Hades…" Poseidon breathed as Amphitrite knelt on the floor, picking up the pieces. "Is this…?" She stood up, her expression turned from shock to anger. "Who did this?"

Triton hurried to her side taking her hand, "Mother, it was Percy. He did it."

That's when everything fell into place. This was all part of Triton's 'surprise'.

He made Luke and Ethan came here so they could distract Annabeth while he and I come up here to see Amphitrite. But of course, she didn't ask to see me personally; Triton made that up so he could lead me into the master bedroom and get me into trouble and I was stupid enough to follow him. I had walked right into a trap.

"It wasn't me." I protested, "Triton did it, he tricked me!"

"Oh please," Triton said mockingly, "Don't use the 'he tricked me' excuse. It wouldn't fool anyone."

"It isn't an excuse and you know it!" I yelled.

"Enough!" Poseidon shouted making both of us quiet. "I want to know what the both of you are doing here in the first place." He looked at his son. "Well?"

Triton cleared his throat nervously. So the great Triton Atlantis is afraid of his own father eh?

"My crouch horn was missing so I came looking for it. The last time I saw it was when I came up here to talk to mother and I thought that I must have left it here by mistake. When I got here, I saw Percy here lurking around so I confronted him and he broke the statue."  
"Lies!" I broke in angrily. "Triton brought me up here; he said that Amphitrite wanted to see me so I came but no one was here when we arrived."

"And then Triton broke the statue." Amphitrite cut in.

"Yes, that's exactly what happened. You can ask Annabeth, she heard what Triton said. She saw that he and I came up here together."

"I don't trust that girl. She thinks that she's so smart." Amphitrite said, "The person I trust is my son and I do believe that you were trying to steal something from this room."

"Your son is lying!" I snapped, getting angrier by each moment. "And why would I steal something from you? I'm not greedy like you. I don't care about all these statues and antique stuff."

Amphitrite walked towards me, "How dare you speak to me like this?"

"Because I'm telling you the truth!" I retorted not caring about anything anymore.

"Perseus! Enough!" Poseidon yelled, silencing me.

"You see, Poseidon. He is arrogant and rude. He obviously came into our room to make a mess." Amphitrite insisted. "We should punish him or better yet send him back to his mother!"

Poseidon rubbed his forehead, "We are not punishing or sending Percy anywhere."

"WHAT!" Both Triton and Amphitrite shouted. I admitted I was shocked myself.

"Percy and Triton were probably just fooling around like young boys do. Percy couldn't possibly know where our room is since he never came up here until now. So this is all just an accident." Poseidon explained calmly.

"How could you be this naïve? The boy is fooling you!" Amphitrite exclaimed.

"Mother is right. How could you believe him and not me?" Triton added, glaring at me.

Poseidon ignored them both and turned to me, his expression unreadable. "Today is a school night; you should be in bed by now."

I guess that meant go to bed right now. "Thank you, father." I walked towards the door but Triton moved to stand in front of it.

"You're just going to left him off like that?" Amphitrite cried, "What is wrong with you."

"Leave the boy alone!" Poseidon said, "We'll deal with all this later."

"Deal with this later?" Amphitrite started. "How could you deal with this later? He broke one of my most valuable statues!"

Poseidon cut in, "Triton, get out of Percy's way. You should be in bed as well. Go now."

Triton scowled distastefully, he slowly moved out of my way. I glanced back at to see Poseidon with his unreadable face; Amphitrite's fuming and irritated look that clearly said 'You're dead." And Triton with his angry look, I opened the door and walked out not knowing what to think any more.

* * *

**About Triton's conch shell: it's his real symbol so I just put it there so it can relate to like Greek Mythology :) Maybe I'll write why he has it later on :P**

**Any thoughts? Please tell me in your review :)**

**I can't promise that I'll update fast but I can promise you that the next chapter would have Percabeth :) (Tell them, Nurazlin XD)**

**P.S. Five more days till The Lost Hero, baby! FIVE MORE DAYS!**


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Yes, I know that its been THAT long since I have last update... I feel really guilty about it... But I do have my reasons. Firstly: school... we're going to have our Mock IGCSE exams in January so the teachers decided to give us extra help (meaning extra homework...) so yeah...  
Also there is this tiny, tiny, tiny part of me that is just lazy... Yes, I know! Film lazy? It is not possible! But apparently it is... But anyway, I finished the chapter! So no worries :) **

**Also, there has been a change of plot in this chapter. I looked over my half-finish chapter again to which I realised that it was lame so I decided to change. The outcome: I LOVE this chapter :P It was so fun to write :) and after you finish reading it I hope you'll feel the same way as well :)**

**Lastly, I would like to thank my readers who still stick with this story :) I really appreciate the reviews and the PM that urged me to quickly finish my chapter because there are people waiting to read it! Thank you so much!**

**And please, please, please read all of the bottom AN! It has IMPORTANT STUFF THAT REQUIRES YOUR ATTENTION!  
**

**Disclaimer: Are you serious? Me, owning Percy Jackson and the Olympians? Do you think I would be THAT awesome? I don't think so... I do not own PJO.  
**

**

* * *

**

**11. What Just Happened?**

_Triton wouldn't give up and tighten his hold around me. We struggled for a few seconds before Poseidon's voice boomed from the hall, "Where are they?"_

_That took me off guard, I lost my balance and Triton was able to pull me back in the room. He closed the door as quietly as possible and turned to grin at me._

"Percy?"

"_Just in time."_

"_What was that?" Came a voice outside the room. It was Amphitrite. "It came from our bedroom." Another voice said. I also knew whose voice that is. It was Poseidon._

_Triton rubbed his hands together and said, "Show time."_

"Percy!"

"_What –" Before I could finish the sentence Triton grabbed the statue that he previously held and threw it onto the floor. It fell onto the floor, breaking into pieces, glass were shattered all around the room. _

"Perseus Jackson!"

"Huh? What?" I looked up to see Annabeth glaring me.

"Are you even listening to me?" She asked, crossing her arms.

We were sitting in our homeroom, waiting for Latin class to begin. People around us were all occupied with their projects, trying to make sure that it was perfect for the presentation which would take place in the next ten minutes. Of course, the perks of being partners with Annabeth is that you don't have to worry about last minute check up because she had everything prepared two days before the actual presentation. Before my mind went into flashback mode, I recalled that she was telling me about something…

So to answer her question I just stared at her blankly.

She sighed, "What was I thinking? I, of all people, should know that you have an attention span of a goldfish."

I didn't reply. Instead I turned my gaze to the beach outside. The waves seemed to be unpredictable this morning. Sometimes it would be very strong, rising up against the beach, almost reaching the sidewalks. Other times it would be calm and quiet. It was as if it was mirroring someone's mood: moody, angry, confused and disappointed.

"What this?" Annabeth mused, "No comment from Percy Jackson?"

I slowly turned to her, seeing her smirk in triumph; it _almost _made me smile as well.

"I'm just tired…"

Annabeth's smirk faded away. She looked at me intently, as if trying to figure out what was bothering me.

"What's up with you today?" She asked, "You looked a bit… distracted."

"I'm fine." I reassured her. "No need to worry."

Annabeth's gaze lingered on me for another moment or so then she turned her attention to the report she held in her hands. "Who said I was worried about _you. _I'm worried about the is a very important day and I don't need some dork who is always daydreaming to ruin it."

I can't resist retorting her this time, "Dork? I thought I was the amazing surfer dude who is just irresistible." Allow me to explain this little inside joke: Annabeth had told me a while ago that she heard a group of girls talk about me like this in the bathroom and she decided to pass it on to me. And of course, when I heard I blushed madly and denied that they couldn't have said that. But the way Annabeth said it, so girly and with that girly accent (which was totally out of her character) made me laughed so hard. Annabeth and I have laughed hysterically that day; people thought that we were attacked with laughing gas or something.

"Oh, shut up." Annabeth said, rolling her eyes, "I don't get what those girls see but you are definitely a dork."

I gave her a genuine smile this time and she smiled back. My happiness was short-lived though because at that moment Triton walked by our homeroom. As he passed he looked at me straight in the eye. Coldness passed through my body as I recall his furious look when Poseidon had defended me. It was a look that could freeze the Underworld all over… If the Underworld was real that is.

Annabeth followed my gaze and fell silent as well. She gave Triton a small nod and watched him walk away.

"You never told me what happened last night." She said, quietly not looking at me.

I stiffened and said quickly, "Nothing happened."

Annabeth raised her eyes to meet mine.

I cleared my throat uncomfortably, "I mean, Amphitrite wasn't there when arrived, I wanted to go back down but Triton wanted to talk to me about stuff so yeah, we just talked…" I finished lamely and avoided Annabeth's gaze because I knew that she would figure out that I was lying. She was just _that _good at detecting lies.

"What about you?" I asked, "You were gone when I came back. What's up with that?"  
Now it was Annabeth's turn to avoid my gaze. It's funny how the both of us was acting almost the same: trying to hide something from the other person.

"I didn't want to be in the same room as Luke and Ethan." She stated with no emotion in her voice. "And since we were done with the project, I had no reason to stick around so I left."

Both of us fell silent. I was thinking about my stupid but deadly step brother and his mother who now I know is trying to get rid of me. Annabeth was probably thinking about could she ever had pick Triton to be her boyfriend. I mean, serious he is just… yuck… Okay, maybe Annabeth wasn't thinking about Triton. I don't know what she was thinking but before I could ask, Mr. Brunner rolled into the classroom.

"Please take your seats, children" He said, in his deep voice. As soon as everyone sat in their seats, Mr. Brunner continued, "As you all know that today is your presentation on the Greek god or goddess that you have chosen to the class." Everyone nodded.

"As I have said, the winners of this project would get a trip to the Metropolitan Museums of Art in New York."

Annabeth and some of the 'nerdy' kids sat up straighter at the mention of the Met.

"But of course, the future is always unpredictable so we have to always expect the unexpected." Mr. Brunner smiled at us; his eyes had a mischievous glint as if he was planning to tell us that this project had been a big joke. But he didn't, all he did was clapped his hands together and called up the first pair, Silena and Beckendorf, to tell us about Aphrodite.

In turns out that Annabeth and I were the last pair to present. Clarisse and Chris's presentation on Ares, the war god, had caused quite a commotion because Clarisse had bought her electric spear that she claimed her dad had given it to her for her birthday to threaten the Stoll brothers who thought it would be funny to point out that she and Ares could be father and daughter. So after Mr. Brunner had everyone calmed down and told Clarisse to put her spear away before it got confiscated, he called me and Annabeth up.

You could say that I did my job pretty well because I managed not to mess it up like Annabeth had feared. Basically all I had to do was change the slides of the PowerPoint while Annabeth does the talking. Pretty sad right? But I have to admit, Annabeth does it _way _better than me. She doesn't even need those cards to remind her, she just took a quick look at the slide and she immediately knew what to say. Did I mention that Annabeth is a genius? Anyway, after our presentation ended, applauses were given and we returned to our seats.

"Looks like we did a good job." I whispered to Annabeth as we sat down.

"Of course, _I_ did a great job. I don't know about you though." She smirked at me but her eyes were shining.

"Hey! If I didn't change the slides for you, then you would have had to walk back and forth like…like… someone stupid…" I lamely retorted.

Annabeth laughed, "The king of great comebacks is back."

"Oh, shut up."

"Alright class!" Mr. Brunner rolled in front of the class. Everybody went quiet instantly. "You all did a great job! I can see that everyone gave a hundred percent effort into these presentations." He smiled proudly.

"I understand that at first some of you were quite unhappy with the choice of partner that I had assigned to you." He looked at Grover and Tyson, who surprisingly did a fantastic presentation on Pan, the god of the wild, and now are sort of becoming friends.

I wish I could say the same for me and Annabeth. Our relationship is a _bit _more complicated than that. We don't hate each other anymore but we are still arguing and fighting most of the time that we are together. Let's say that we never had a proper conversation without one of us getting angry. But then again, we would then joke around and laugh our heads off at something stupid once we are not at each other's throats. Also with her annoying, bossy, up-tight, know it all attitude; I don't think that she has the patience to deal with someone like me. So I can't say that we're best friends _yet _but I can't say that we're enemies as well… and since Annabeth is Triton's girlfriend, I'm still a bit wary of her sometimes…

I took a quick glance at Annabeth. She caught my eye and smiled at me. I smiled back.

"But in the end," Mr. Brunner continued. "All of you put your differences aside and both created amazing works, so I am very proud of all of you."

"Mr. Brunner! Stop leading us on like this!" Conner complained. "Just tell us who wins already!"

Half of the class murmured in agreement.

Mr. Brunner gave us his mischievous smile, "Why, everybody wins."

There was a moment of silence before the whole class erupted with questions.

"What you do mean? We all win?"

"Is this some kind of joke?"

"Mr. Brunner!"

"Alright, kids. Calm down." Mr. Brunner said, still smiling. "And let me explain."

"I thought that it was unfair to let just two students go on this trip so I talked to the school and they agreed to let all of you go to New York as a class. Consider it as a class trip if you want."

"So you're saying that we're all going to New York? Grover asked, "Everyone?"

"Yes, child." Mr. Brunner answered.

And for the second time that day, the class erupted in excitement.

"This is so cool!" Silena squealed. "We can go shopping all day long!"

"It'll be a trip that we'll never forget!" Travis exclaimed, winking to his brother who grinned mischievously in returned.

Tyson came over to me and gave me a big hug. "We're going to New York!" he exclaimed enthusiastically.

I couldn't help feeling excited as well. "Yes, we are!" I laughed along with him.

Tyson released me and went on to hug Grover, who was surprised at first but then reluctantly hugged him back.

"Ouch! I can't… breathe… Tyson!" Grover moaned.

"Sorry! Goat man." Tyson released and patted him on the back.

"Goat man?" Grover exclaimed. "Where did that come from?"

I smiled happily at them. It's nice to know that Grover and Tyson are friends now. Tyson could use another friend to watch his back. Well unless Grover himself doesn't get into trouble first… But then Tyson could help him out if I'm not around so I think its win and win situation.

* * *

By the end of class, everyone was buzzing with excitement. Well, everyone except Annabeth that is. I don't get her. I mean, everyone did a great job with the presentations especially us, not that I'm biased or anything. So the whole class gets to go to New York. No losers or winners. No feelings of disappointment or getting hit by Annabeth if we didn't win. Everything was great so why wasn't she happy?

We were walking together to our next class, biology, when I asked her this; she looked at me like I had just dropped from the sky.

"Are you seriously asking me that question?" she asked.

"Um, yes?"

She sighed disappointedly, "It's just… Mr. Burner's announcement…"

I raised my eyebrow, "What about it?"

"Doesn't it feel like an anti-climax?"

"What do you mean an anti-climax? Isn't that supposed to happen like in books?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes and mumbled something that sounded like: "I can't believe I'm stuck with this idiot." But of course, I could always be wrong.

"Look," she said impatiently, "When Mr. Burner assigned us that project he clearly said that only the best pair would get to go but then in the end, he just announced that everyone could all go."

I looked at her confused, "Isn't that suppose to be a good thing then?"

She scoffed, "Yes, for people like YOU who doesn't anything but for me, I wanted to win gracefully and proudly so that it would actually feel that I deserve it."

I shook my head, "I would never, _ever_ understand girls."

Before she could argue with me, the fire alarm went off. I jumped back, surprised because I was directly next to it.

"Arg!" I had to cover my ears because the shrilling noise was seriously hurting my ears.

I was about to run to the nearest emergency exit to get away from this torturing noise that could make my ears fall off and also to escape to safety when Annabeth pulled me back.

"What are you doing?" I yelled over the stupid fire alarm. "We should get out of here!"

Annabeth shook her head, "This is an invader's drill!"

"A what?"

She didn't answer me instead she pulled me to the nearest classroom and pushed me in, closing the door behind her.

The classroom was empty except for the desks and chairs that are scattered all around. It looked like a tornado had blown in and flung everything, everywhere.

Annabeth dragged me to the closest desk and shoved me under it. My head hit the desk with a bang. "Ouch!"

"Sorry." Annabeth said as she got down beside me, she didn't sound sorry though.

"What are we doing here? Do you want to die?" I tried to get up but Annabeth pulled me back.

"Shut up, Percy! This is an invader's alarm not a fire alarm. This is what we're supposed to do." She snapped.

"Well, I'm sorry. How would I know the difference between a fire alarm and an invader's drill? It sounds the same to me." I mumbled under my breath.

Annabeth glared at me to shut up so I did. Both of us sat there quietly waiting for the ringing to stop.

"Percy?" Annabeth spoke up, breaking the silence. I thought that she was trying to make have conversation to drown out the ringing of the fire alarm but I didn't expect her to bring up _the incident._

"What really happened yesterday?" She asked her piercing grey eyes stared right into my eyes, as if trying to draw out the truth.

I looked down, avoiding her gaze. "I told you: nothing happened. Triton and I just talked."

"I don't believe you. Something happened, Percy. I just know it."

I started to get angry. What's her problem? Why can't she leave me alone?

"Look," I turned towards her. "Will you just drop it? Nothing happened! But if something did why would I tell you? It's none of your business!"

Annabeth's eyes flashed dangerously, "None of my business? How dare you say that! Of course, it's my business, Triton is my boyfriend!"

_Triton is my boyfriend…_ I don't know why but hearing that made me even angrier.

I got out from under the table and started towards the door. I wanted to get out of here.

"Percy! Don't you dare walk away from me!"

I didn't stop. Before I could reach the door, Annabeth grabbed my arm and turned me towards her until we were face to face.

She then grabbed my collar and pulled my face down to hers. "Tell. Me. What. Happened."

Our faces were inches apart. I could feel her breath on my face. Her eyes were searching mine for some sort of answer.

I don't know what came over me then. It was as if my body was moving with its own mind. I stared into her eyes and slowly leaned towards her.

I'm sure Annabeth knew what I was doing, I expect her to push me or punch my lights out but to my surprise she didn't. She just stood there, frozen as I leaned closer and closer. Her breath was now on my lips and mine over hers. There was just a tiny space between our mouths now. Just a bit more and –

_Bang!_

A door slammed shut somewhere.

We jumped apart instantaneously. Annabeth was blushing madly and panting heavily, running her hands through her hair. "I—I gotta go." She stammered quickly and went out of the room with a slam of the door. I stood there for a very long time, staring at the space where Annabeth had been. I didn't even notice that the alarm had stop ringing. I didn't notice the sound of the students walking in the hallway, going to their classes. I didn't care that I was late for class. I didn't care that I would get detention. I didn't care about anything except for that…that… moment between Annabeth and I.

_Oh my gods, what just happened?

* * *

_

**Hehehehehehe... I am evil aren't I? :P  
So your thoughts? I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I have enjoyed writing it :P Please review!  
By the way: the invader's alarm thing? That really happened in our school :P It was during business class when it rang and during that time we were under the table, Nurazlin (wolfienur) pointed out that I should put this in my fic so I did :) So thanks, Nur! And so this day, I am still wondering: how do we know the difference between the fire alarm and the invader's alarm? It sounds EXACTLY the same... **

**Anyway, since it's been THAT long, I assumed that you all have read The Lost Hero. And I have to say that it is AMAZING! But of course, not as PJO but very, very close... For a full review go look on my profile :P  
And of course, you all would know what happens to our beloved Percy Jackson! I still can't believe it... After all the trouble he's been through and he's just... Why would you do this Rick? Why? Give him a break! He and Annabeth are happy and Percy's just... GAH!**

**But do not worry! If you want to escape that pain of missing Percy, you always have fanfiction :P And of course, my fanfic :P (I'm biased, I know) Also, you can read about Percy in a new crossover fic that me and my friends have written :) It's called: One Island, Five Boys under the collab account: Red Dot Society. It is an EPIC crossover fic between: Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Hunger Games, The Mortal Instruments, Nightworld and The Mediator series. It features**** Percy Jackson,**** Morgead Blackthorn, Peeta Mellark , Jace Wayland and Jesse de Silva. So if you are a fan of these characters or these series go check it out and don't forget to leave a review :P But a warning though: this story does not have a plot and it can make you roll on the floor laughing because it doesn't make any sense and because it it JUST THAT FUNNY :P Check it out!**

**Thanks!**

**P.S. Did you guys watch Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part 1? IT WAS EPIC! :D  
**


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Wow. 4 months... **

**I know, my updating schedule has not been the best (Okay, it sucks) but there has been so much going on so I haven't been able to sit down and write properly. I am truly and deeply sorry for not updating this long... So I would like to give a big thanks to all of you readers. You're are so awesome because you stuck with this story even though I haven't updating for this long... I really do love you guys. And seriously 322 reviews? This is just... amazing! :P  
**

**Here is another chapter! It isn't as long as the others... But as my good friend said "Quality over quantity" :)  
So I hope you will will enjoy this chapter!  
**

** Disclaimer: Yes, I do own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan is my alias, I'm just on fanfiction because I need a break from the revision of The Son of Neptune.  
**

* * *

**12. The Not So Great Escape**

New York City.

Although it has only been about a couple of months since I moved to San Francisco, I still miss it. The way everyone and everything is always rushing, the sound of car horns honking when the traffic was bad and even the annoying pigeons that were everywhere, I miss it all. Don't get me wrong, I mean, San Francisco is cool too, but it wasn't New York. I didn't feel like I belong there, partly because of my _very close_ relationship with my father's family. But now I was back in New York, the place I consider home. I had called my mom on the day that Mr. Brunner announced the trip to New York and told her that I really wanted to see her.

Of course, her response was _"Percy! You know better then to sneak out of a class trip just to see me. Promise me that you won't do it." _ I told her not to worry about it but I was not going to let the only chance of seeing my mom slip by am I? I have a plan worthy of Athena (See? I have learnt something from that project after all) and I was going to put it in action during the tour of the Met.

* * *

It was about noon when we reached the MET, the whole class gathered on the front steps of the museum. Mr. Brunner wheeled himself in front of us, followed by our other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds. Out of all the teachers in Seaside High, they had to pick the one teacher that likes to give me and Grover the evil eye.

"Alright class, quiet down." Mr. Brunner called out. "I will explain you the tour schedule so listen up carefully."

"First we will look at the Greek and Roman section for about an hour or so then we will give you some free time to explore the other sections of the museum. So don't wonder off on your own until we give permission to do so. Understood?"

All of us nodded in agreement.

"Also I think that you should be in your pairs so that you may discuss and explore what you have done together in greater detail."As soon as he said this, my heart started to beat faster. I had to go with Annabeth...

If there wasn't anything going on between us, I would gladly go with her and make stupid comments to annoy her as much as possible during the whole tour. But of course, we had that 'moment' where we almost kissed during the invader's drill. I can still remember it as if it was yesterday.  
Her stormy grey eyes which were staring into my green ones. The feel of her soft breathe on my lips. The way her body fit perfectly against mine.  
I shook my head to clear those thoughts. I could not afford to be thinking about it now. I snuck a look toward Annabeth's direction to see her reaction. Her face displayed no reaction at all, just as I had expected. After our 'almost kissing' incident, Annabeth and I had been avoiding each other. To tell you the truth, it was mostly Annabeth who was avoiding me. Every time she saw me, she would purposely walk in the other direction. In class when I tried talking to her, she would always answer me with one word answers then brushed off my conversation entirely. All of my attempts to talk her failed, miserably. I could have tried harder to make her talk to me but she had to be with the one person that I really didn't want to see or talk to: Triton. I had been trying to avoid Triton after since the 'incident' because who knows, maybe he can see right through my act the moment he looked into my eyes. So the chances of me getting Annabeth alone to talk was slim to none. Yup, things have gotten VERY complicated between us…

Grover nudged me put of my thoughts, "Dude, you zoned out again."

"Huh? What?"

Grover sighed, "Having girl problems eh, Perce?"

"What? I – I have no idea what you are talking about." I stammered, trying not to blush.

"Are you serious? Even a person with one eye can tell that you and Annabeth are fighting."

I blushed deeper. "Yeah, right. Does a person with one eye even exist?"

"Don't even try to change the subject." Grover warned. "Look, Percy. I know it's none of my business but I am also Annabeth's friend so I deserve to know to know what is going on between the two of you."

I haven't told anyone about the 'incident' not Grover, my closest friend, not Tyson my half-brother, I just couldn't. "We just had a little misunderstanding, man. Don't worry about it."

Grover gave me a long look before he nodded, "If you say so, Percy."

Tyson came up behind Grover and he look at me, "Aren't you suppose to be with Annabeth?"

"Wish me luck guys." I said as I made my way towards her.

Annabeth seem to in very deep thoughts because she didn't notice me. I stood next to her, not knowing what to say but I had to try. I cleared my throat, "Hey Annabeth."

Annabeth immediately turned her head towards me, surprised. But when she realised that it was me, she took a deep breath, "Oh hey Percy."  
We just stood there in awkward silence, staring at everywhere except each other until Mr. Brunner called us into the museum to start the tour. This is going to be one _hell _of a tour…

* * *

Mr. Brunner rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big galleries, past marble statues and glass cases of really old black and orange potteries. He explained all about the Greek funeral arts and how the four-metre-tall stone column with a big sphinx on top was a grave marker, a stele, for girls about our age. I was listening to him talking about it but my mind couldn't stop thinking about my escape plan. If everything goes smoothly I would see my mom, if not then I would be in serious trouble. I just have to make sure no one sees me…

"Alright class, time for lunch," Mr. Brunner announced, "After that you have two hours to freely look at the different exhibits, just make sure you meet us at the entrance at exactly 3 o'clock. Off you go now."

I turned to Annabeth who was still looking at the stele, "I promised Grover and Tyson that I would have lunch with them so I'll see you later yeah?"

Annabeth looked at me briefly and nodded, "Yeah, I'll see you later."

Sighing, I stuffed my hands in my pockets, wishing that we were back to normal and by _normal, _I meant back to arguing and fighting with each other. It was better than her avoiding me all the time.

'_Focus, Percy! Remember the plan' _I shook my head, and looked around. I saw Grover and Tyson by one of the benches eating lunch. Quickly, I hid behind a pillar after making sure no one was looking for me, I paced towards the exit.  
I was about the reach the doors when I heard a raspy voice, "Where do you think you're going Perseus Jackson?"

I turned around to face Mrs. Dodds, who had her hands on her hips snarling at me.

"I was looking for the bathroom ma'am."

She narrowed her eyes, "Go on then." She said at last, giving me her famous evil eye glare.

I reluctantly jogged towards the bathroom. Taking a quick glance back to see if Mrs. Dodds was still watching me or not, I collided with someone, hard, sending them on to the floor.

"Hey! Watch where you are going!" she said, rubbing her head.

"I'm so sorry," I apologised, "I didn't see you." I offered her my hand, which she used to pull herself up.

"Of course, you didn't" She murmured, rolling her green eyes. The girl had frizzy reddish –brown hair. She wore a big maroon sweat-shirt and jeans that were covered with paint stains of different colours.

"So where are you hurrying off to before you unknowingly crashed into me?" the girl asked.

"The bathroom." I said quickly, taking another glance at Mrs. Dodds who was still standing by the entrance.

"Ah, you're one of those guys who likes to ditch a school field trip aren't you?"

I whipped my head around and looked at her, "What? How… I am not…"

The girl chuckled, "Well, I was right. You are one of those guys."

I tried to be calm. How does this girl know what I was planning to do? Would she call security or worse, tell Mrs. Dodds? Suddenly, I became aware of how close I am to being caught. There was only one option left.

"Look," I said, "I just wanted to go somewhere really quickly because this might be the only chance before I go back to San Francisco."  
I didn't know why I told her that but she seemed to understand because the next thing she said was, "That's your teacher right?" she pointed to Mrs. Dodds.  
"Yeah."  
"Consider this your lucky day because I'm going to help you."

"What?" I asked, surprised.

She looked at me again, "I'm going to talk to your teacher over there and when I'm doing that, you quickly get out."

I was still stunned. Why would this girl who I just knocked down help me? I asked her that, she did was shrugged and said, "I just feel like it."

Then she walked towards Mrs. Dodds and started to ask her questions.

While Mrs. Dodds's back was towards me, the red-headed girl motioned for me to go. I nodded and mouthed 'thank you' before I ran out of the museum.

I didn't even know the girl's name but I had a feeling that this would not be the last time that I'll see her. But for now, all I thought was in a few minutes; I would get to see my mom again.

* * *

I was about to hail a cab when someone called my name. Again. I decided there and then that I have the worse luck ever. Looking back, I saw the one person that I didn't expect to see or hear from anytime soon so it was safe to say that I was once again, in trouble.

"Percy! What in the world are you doing?" Annabeth Chase said, coming to stand right in front of me.

"I'm…um…"

"Percy…" Her voice was dangerously low.

"I was going to go somewhere." I finally said.

"I can see that, but you honestly think that you can get away with it so easily?" She said, glaring me at. Just like old times.

"Well, I'm not doing anything bad… I mean, I'll be back before everyone finds out." I defended myself.

"Are you serious? Do you have seaweed for a brain or something?" I locked my eyes with her, daring for her to continue, "You know, you're going to get in _so_trouble."

At that moment, a cab pulled right up beside me. I had a brilliant idea. When I look back at this moment, it was one of the best ideas that I ever had.

I opened the cab door and pushed Annabeth in. "Hey!" she protested. "What are you doing?"

"Showing you that I'm not going anywhere dangerous." I said smugly as I got in beside her.

"East One Hundred and Fourth and First Avenue." I told the driver. He nodded and started to drive.

"This is kidnapping, you know that right?" Annabeth murmured as she crossed her arms.

I grinned, "Yeah, I know. But it is going to be worth it."

* * *

**Hehehe... you can totally guess where Percy is taking her right? :P Ah, Percy... Your ideas are just... brilliant :P  
So I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. Don't worry, Percy and Annabeth will talk about the 'incident' soon enough (and yes, that is the next chapter)**

**I honesty don't know when I will update again because exams are coming up and I have to really, really study so it might be a while before I update... but do not worry, after exams are over I will definitely update so just hang on :)  
**

**Leave and review and thank you so much for reading!**

**Oh and one last thing, remember when I said that I own Percy Jackson and Rick Riordan is my alias? Well, it's April's Fool! So hahahaha... (Lame, I know)**  
**Anyway, I DO NOT OWN Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Rick Riordan does and I really want to meet him someday...**


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Hey guys! Remember me?**

**Well, exams are over and summer's here and you know what that means! FREEDOM! I'm sorry for the late update, exams have been over for a week now but I couldn't make myself sit down and write something. I don't know what was wrong with me but when I forced myself to start writing, it started to flow and BAM! This chapter came to be. **

**It's been a while since I have written for this story (Okay, okay. It's been 3 months) so I apologise in advance if this chapter seem rusty. But think of it this way, my writing is like a machine. It hasn't been used in a while so it gets rusty so it might take a while to oil the gears and to get the machine working smoothly again.**

**As for this chapter, I would like to thank my new beta reader: LikeTheStars! (Check out her stories, people! They're awesome!) :D**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter! And sorry for the lame chapter title.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. If I did, Percy would be shirtless more often. XP  
**

* * *

**13. Mother, Son (and Annabeth) Bonding Time**

Annabeth and I didn't talk for the rest of the journey. She was mad at me for 'kidnapping' her (it wasn't part of my plan either) but I couldn't just let her wander off and tell Ms. Dodds. This may be the only time that I could see my mom, unless Amphitrite changes her mind about me and decides to pay for my plane ticket home for the holidays. Yeah, like that's going to happen in this lifetime. I looked over to Annabeth who was staring out the window. I tried to think of something to say but nothing came, so I just concentrated on the streets ahead. A couple of minutes later, we arrived at our destination and I have never felt happier.

"Come on," I said as I held the door open for Annabeth, "We don't have all day."

Annabeth looked at me with her eyebrows raised but to my surprise, she went inside.

"I assume that this is your mom's apartment," she said as we climbed up the stairs. Seeing that it was useless to lie anymore, I nodded. "Was I that obvious?"

She rolled her eyes, "Oh please, anyone with a brain could figure out that you would visit your mom. It's not like anyone is stupid enough to sneak out of their class trip just to go to a fancy restaurant."

"You don't know that, maybe that's the Stolls brother's plan."

"I think that theirs would be better than yours. They wouldn't get caught this easy."

I pretended to be hurt. "I spent two days planning about this and I skipped dinner with my step-mother, she was quite mad. You know how she is when she's mad don't you?"

Annabeth smiled and my heart jumped. I forgot how nice it felt when she smiled at me.

"We're here." We stopped in front of a familiar door. "Here goes nothing."

I knocked on the door three times. "Coming!" My mother's voice rang from somewhere inside. I was suddenly nervous. My heart was beating as if I had being running a marathon, and my hands were sweating like crazy. What if I came at the wrong time? What if my mom had company and had no time for me? What if – all these thoughts were pushed out of my mind when I heard the lock click. The door flew open.

"Percy?" My mom said, staring at me in wonder and shock. "What in the world are you doing here?"

* * *

After giving me her best I-told-you-not –to-sneak-out-and-see-me-you-could-get-into-so-much-trouble speech, my mom gave me a very tight hug. "Oh, Percy. I missed you so much!" she said after letting me go. She wasn't mad anymore, that's my mom.

"And who is your friend over here?" she asked, looking at Annabeth who was standing awkwardly to the side of the living room.

"Mom, this is my friend, Annabeth Chase. Annabeth, my mom." I introduced.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Jackson." Annabeth held out her hand, expecting a handshake. What she didn't expect was for my mom to pull her into a hug.

"It's nice to meet to you, Annabeth. I have heard so much about you." My mom said, releasing her. Annabeth, shocked by the warm gesture, turned to look at me. "Really?"

I gulped. _This is bad. Really bad._

"You're Percy's partner in the Greek mythology project. I bet you did all the hard work." She winked at her, "I know that my boy here doesn't like to do any school work, so I hope you push him nice and hard."

"Mom! You're supposed to be on my side! And for your information, I help _a lot._" I defended myself.

Annabeth stifled a laugh, "Don't listen to him, Mrs. Jackson. I had to drag him away for the stables and force him to do some work."

I looked from her to my mom. "Why are you guys being mean to me?" I crossed my arms like a spoiled child.  
"Aww, don't be angry. We're just teasing you." My mom smoothed my hair, "How about I go and bake your favourite chocolate chip cookies? I think we have enough time before you have to go."

My eyes lit up, "_Blue _chocolate chip cookies?"

My mom laughed, "Of course, dear. Why don't you and Annabeth go wash up, and then you can come and help."

She went into the kitchen leaving me alone with Annabeth. "Come on, the bathroom's this way." I told her.

Sensing that she wasn't following me, I turned at looked at her, puzzled. "What's wrong?"

Annabeth shifted uncomfortably, looking anywhere but me. "Um… well… you see, um."

I stepped closer to her. I vaguely remember her telling me how she has a bad relationship with her dad and her step-mother, but I didn't think how meeting my mom could affect her. Maybe she wasn't used to having an adult hugging her. I suddenly felt bad.

"Look, I'm sorry that my mom hugged you, she's just the kind of person that likes to show affections, you know." I tried to explain to her but she cut me off with a questioning gaze.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Um, my mom hugging you. It clearly made you feel uncomfortable and I'm apologising."

"That wasn't what I wanted to say at all."

Oops. I guess I over thought it.

"Why would you say that?" she asked, hands on her hips. Not a good sign! Change the subject, Percy. Quickly!  
"Never mind that. What were you going to say?" I said, hoping that she would let it go.

She narrowed her eyes at me but said, "I was going to say that I… don't know how to bake." She whispered the last bit.

What I did next, let's just say that Annabeth wasn't too happy about it.

I burst out laughing.

"Percy! This isn't funny!" But it was. Annabeth admitting she couldn't bake? That was the last thing I expected her to say.

"Stop laughing! Percy!" Annabeth was blushing from embarrassment now.

"You… can't…bake? I thought you were going to say something serious, but you just said you can't bake." I took deep breaths trying not to laugh again.

"I know what I said, Percy. And it wasn't that funny." I rolled my eyes, she saw that and hit me in the arm. "Ouch! No need to get physical." I raised my hands in an 'I surrender' gesture.

"Do you know how many accidents happen in the kitchen that involves people who can't cook?" she didn't allow me to answer but kept speaking. "Eighty-seven percent, Percy."

"You are blowing this way out of proportion. It's just a harmless baking session, you don't even have to do anything, just hand me and my mom the ingredients or something."

Annabeth considered my words. "Okay, fine. But if something goes wrong, I blame it all on you."

"Fine, now let's go wash up. The best chocolate chips cookies in the world are just begging to be baked."

* * *

A while later, my mom, Annabeth and I were perched on the stools on the kitchen, crunching on the warm chocolate chip cookies that we successfully made without the kitchen being burnt down (Much to Annabeth's relieved).

"Okay, I have to ask," Annabeth said, as she picked up another cookie, "Why blue?"

My mom and I exchanged smiles. "Do the honor, mom." I bit on a cookie as my mom told the story of how 'blue food' tradition came around.

"Well, before we moved here, we used to live with Gabe Ugliano." My nose wrinkled at the thought of my ex-step father.

"He was ugly, messy, stupid and has one of the smelliest body odour in the world." I said, shivering as I recall his scent. Annabeth laughed. "I'm seriously, he smells like moldy pizza wrapped in gym shorts."

"Percy!" my mom scolded, "We're eating."

"Sorry."

"Anyway, we used to have these arguments all the time about blue food. Gabe would always say that there is no such thing as blue food and one time, I was so angry at him—"

"She made the entire dinner blue. Blue pasta, blue cake even blue diet coke." I finished for her.

"That's my mom, creator of blue food!" I took another bite of my cookie.

My mom glanced at the clock, "Oh dear, look at time! I think you two should leave now before anyone notice that you're missing."

Groaning, I got up. "Do we have to?"

"Percy, you know we have to." Annabeth said.

"I know." I replied, sadly.

Sensing that something was on my mind, my mom said, "Can you give us a moment?"

Annabeth nodded and left the kitchen.

My mom put her hands on my shoulder. "Percy, I know that your father may act oddly sometimes but it's not his fault. He just doesn't want your life to get any more complicated than this. He just wants to spend some time with you." I didn't tell her that it wasn't my dad that I was worried about but I didn't trust myself to speak, so I just nodded.

"Let's go. Annabeth's waiting." We walked to the front door together.

"It's nice meeting you, Annabeth." She pulled Annabeth into a tight embrace. "You're welcome here anytime. Just don't sneak out again." Annabeth laughed.

"You should tell your son that. After all, he was the one who dragged me here." I stuck my tongue out at her. Childish, I know, but I couldn't help it.

"I'll miss you, Percy. Be good at your father's, okay?" she said, as she hugged me.

"I'll try."

"Don't worry, Mrs. Jackson. I'll keep him out of trouble." Annabeth said. My mom smiled. "Well, it looks like you'll be in good hands."

"Bye mom. I'll call you when I get back!" She gave us a small wave as we walked away. I was sad to leave her again but somehow this time, walking down the stairs with Annabeth; I didn't feel as lonely as before. I nudged her shoulder with mine, "I told you it was worth it, didn't I?"

She smiled that smile of hers that made my heart jump, "Yes, you did."

We stepped out of my apartment and onto the busy streets of New York. "I didn't believe you at first but…" she trailed off.

"But what?"

"I had fun, and it's been a while since I had fun, so I just wanted to tell you… thanks." Annabeth didn't look at me so she couldn't see that I was blushing.

"You're welcome, Annabeth.

* * *

**There you go. A cute and non-serious chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it! I actually liked how it turned out. Anyway, please review! **

**Speaking of review: OMG! 370 reviews? Are you kidding me? Thank you so much! I really appreciate all my readers that are patient with my sucky-ish updating schedule… I love you guys! 3 3**

**And one more thing: I was just reading this PJO fanfic the other day and I notice that the author made Luke the bad guy and I was like: "Not again! Stop making Luke the bad guy!" but a second later: "OMG! I made Luke one of the bad guys in _my own story!" _ I didn't know what I was thinking back then. I don't know these past months; I'm sort of warming up to Luke so now I didn't want him to be the bad guy anymore… sighs… **

**Don't forget to review! Thanks for reading! :D**


End file.
